Artist Talk during the opening from 19 - 20 hr. Registration: info@einBuch.haus

Paraphrase /ˈpærəfreIz/
1.1. expresses the meaning of something written or spoken, using different words, especially to achieve greater clarity.
1.2. is a restatement of the meaning of a text or passage using other words. In her research about artist books, An Onghena explores the form and status of books in different contexts. For Onghena, books and paper are a working partner rather than a tool to use for drawing, writing, or painting. Onghena turns the concept of ‘a book’ inside out, to approach new directions and give different meanings to the book. In the exhibition Paraphrase /ˈpærəfreIz/ Onghena introduces her research by a video of the work Performance for the book. This performance was developed in 2017 during her one-year artist residency at Jan van Eyck Academie in Maastricht, The Netherlands. Performance for the book shows the ability of an enlarged piece of paper that transits into a dance and ends up as a sculpture. It shows the love for paper and the ambiguity of this material. This performance functions as a visual experiment to give life and meaning to the paper, and to acknowledge its own important role. Starting from Performance for the book the exhibition shows new sketches, drawings and works by the artist dating from 2018 until 2021. Following this, Onghena launches her new artist book werkboek in collaboration with Jivan van der Ende. This publication can be seen as a reading tool with a performative and collaborative element, between the two artists as well as the two readers.