The May/June issue gives way to a new 20-something list, featuring visual artists, photographers, art collectives, dancers, musicians and much more. Twenty people who are a representation of young society in Belgium, a generation ready to rule our world. Let us introduce you to the faces you didn’t realise you wanted to meet!
Lina Ejdaa
curator, Antwerp, 23
Photos from recent projects Lina has worked for
How would you describe what you do?
Currently, I am planting seeds within my artistic practice: developing my own approach as a freelance curator and with BOX22, my own collective, and I write articles and proposals for artistic projects. Besides that, I’m working for NICC, an artists’ initiative run by and for artists. The core activity of the NICC is to promote, critique, and feed the debate on the development of artistic practice.
What are you currently busy with?
I’m working on a summer exhibition for NICC and a group expo with BOX22 in collaboration with a Brussels collective called Medusa. Besides that, I am organizing an exhibition with Julia Wlodkowski, Ian De Weerdt, and Joost Vyncke called L\*A\*P\* (Life Art Project), which also takes place this summer. I am also developing an artistic project called Art Since 1900? for which I am inviting other artists, curators, academics, writers, etc. to contribute.
Anything planned for the future?
Too much.
Nickname(s) people have given you?
Somehow my name is hard to remember, I often get emails back with ‘Dear Linda’. And in the Netherlands, they often call me ‘Lien’, which I like because it reminds me of the song ‘Tante Lien’ by De Jeugd van Tegenwoording.
Latest déjà vu?
Read this question ten times, and I’m still not able to remember one. Do people remember that?
Any new habits?
I recently started archiving all the exhibition texts I collected over the years, super satisfying. Would recommend it.
What’s your daily routine like?
Waking up slowly but in a rush; trying to get as much work done; having a coffee; being distracted by something silly however interesting; having another coffee; trying to get more work done; being distracted by something interesting however silly; drinking a Gueuze; slowly trying to go to sleep. Oh yeah, and eating somewhere in between.
Weirdest dream you’ve had?
I don’t really dream, as in dreaming of a certain future or goal, but the weirdest dream I lately had was about me holding a sculpture, in the Wide White Space (artspace in Antwerp in the ’60s/’70s) and Vaast Colson and Lieven Segers fighting about how I should carry the sculpture best, while they were drinking beers and smoking. Don’t really know how I feel about this dream.
What artists are you listening to?
The latest records I bought are Sunken Park by dynArec, Shipwrecked byElectro Nation, Big Spender by Erik Travis.
Favourite memory?
Summers in Amsterdam. The oppressive heat when you walk outside and you can feel the heat. You compensate for that by swimming, drinking, and having conversations with friends about things that matter while realizing (drunk) in the end it doesn’t.
What advice would you give your younger/older self?
Younger self: don’t start collecting. Older self: never stop collecting.
Favourite emoji?
🙃
Cutest desire you have?
Dressing my future kids up as Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels for Carnaval.
Love of your life?
Making a living out of what I love.
Biggest personal change since last year?
Knowing, to a certain extent, more what I want, and realizing how much I have grown, though at the same time being aware of the fact that this process is never-ending.
How did last year change your perspective?
These insights have given me more peace in doing what I am doing.
Are you a nostalgic person?
Yes, in the sense of referencing memories, being aware of the value of time and how it forms the present/future. I always had a fascination for collecting old things that attract me, like books, records, anything that makes me feel somehow nostalgic toa time I wasn’t part of.
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