Amber Roucourt
Amber Roucourt (°1998) lives in Brussels and works in Leuven.
Graduated in painting and ceramics at PXL MAD, School Of Arts in Hasselt
A practice in motion. Amber Roucourt initially studied painting, but was quickly drawn to the ceramics studio. She sensed that something was missing in her practice, something tangible, something three-dimensional. Consequently, the artist turned towards ceramics, in which she applies a playful approach to the medium.
Roucourt's body of work comprises moving, ceramic objects. The young artist immerses herself in an exploratory practice. She examines the subject of ceramics, demonstrates expertise and a profound understanding of the material. Her fascination for the complexity and potential of ceramics continues to grow. Roucourt explores the essential attributes required by different types of forms to generate motion. She enlarges decorative objects and extracts them from their familiar context, and thereby transforming them into sculpture. This phenomenon stimulates and encourages the viewer to reflect. The artist fueled her inspiration by collecting found objects, which has in the meantime accumulated into a personal collection of items.
Roucourt reverses the status of ceramics: where traditional ceramic artists cautiously and gently approach the medium, Amber Roucourt conversely invites the audience to join her in playing with the medium. A movement, swing, turn or push: the ceramic object continues to move in multiple dynamic compositions. Amber Roucourt's practice thus involves activations and performances, in which she describes the physical creation process as a performance within itself. To maintain this playful autonomy and freedom, she prefers not to assign titles to her work. This would limit her creativity in the compositions of her work and would reinforce the tendency to think and act in boxes.
Starting from the creative process in the studio up to the scenography in the exhibition, the playful element proves to be a vibrant and crucial part of Amber Roucourt's practice. The activation of the work demands new perspectives: sculptural objects dance, swing, spin and swirl through the space.
Teaser
ELAPSE
Through the group exhibition Elapse, Curating the Young facilitates a dialogue between four artists and the remarkable context of the historic silos at Vaartkom in the city of Leuven. The exploratory practice of these artists examines the temporality of their work and the context in which it is presented. What if we ceased to fear impermanence and instead embraced it?
Impermanence may be intangible, but it can simultaneously offer a sense of direction and support. Elapse reflects this sense of temporality in the practices of the participating artists and refers to transience in our social contexts. The silos of the city's last industrial mill provide a space for Maarten De Laet (°1996), Amber Roucourt (°1998), Andrei Haesen (°1997) and Jan Van Eijgen (°1995) to reflect on the ongoing evolution and impermanence of our surroundings.
Curated by Curating The Young, in close collaboration with Cas-co / Studio Annext