The bureaucreative age

Ondertitel:a parafiction on the aftermath of the creative industries

The parafictional documentary meandmywork and the (Bureau)Creative Age and the accompanying exhibition at the M HKA in Antwerp (24/02/2022 – 20/03/2022) are the final result of visual artist Sarah Hendrickx’s Phd research in the Arts at St Lucas Antwerp and the University of Antwerp. The Bureaucreative Age is a research that finds itself tangled within a corporate, economic and bureaucratic environment and is explored inside an artistic parafiction. The artist plays with an overlap between fact and fiction through the imagination of the Research Centre on Creative Abilities meandmywork. The story in which meandmywork is ultimately set up as a fictitious character, over-identifies itself with the bureaucratic and corporate processes experienced in the business field of creativity incorporated. In order to leave the door open for speculation, the research is an artistic act of futuring: a process to think about the future, envision what may happen, and to gain insight into actions to take in the present. Several different layers were constructed meticulously to work on the truthiness of the story while at the same time adjusting sentences, words, visuals, ways of editing, etc. that hint the fabrication of the whole fiction. Real interviews bring about other reflections and opinions and strengthen the documentary’s credibility. Another part of the research enters the stage by means of an exhibition showcasing so called artefacts dating from The Bureaucreative Age and the journey of the Research Centre meandmywork, encouraging the viewer to step further inside its fiction. Finally, one side of the desk-calendar like publication reads the fictive story of meandmywork as it was published in the Artistic Research magazine Forum+ (Februari 2021, vol. 28 nr.1). The other side communicates the research trajectory and construction of the parafictional story. The parafiction of The Bureaucreative Age and the Research Centre on Creative Abilities meandmywork as its lead role, produce their meaning in the encounter with the spectator, creating a specific multiplicity while introducing a fatalistic version of what might happen when art and creativity get absorbed by corporate dominion.

Jaar van publicatie:2022

Trefwoorden:Doctoral thesis

Toegankelijkheid:Closed