Carmen Schabracq

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Carmen Schabracq -

 

Carmen Schabracq (Amsterdam, NL, 1988) creates paintings, sculptural installations, masks and performances in which the theatricality of life plays an important role. She gathers stories from various myths, traditions and her own experiences and uses them to create collage-like visual narratives. The mask is a recurring object and theme in her work, which she uses to explore the complexity of human identity. A mask is a tool within a ritual or performance, to become 'the other' and she plays with this in various ways.

Her work is also a form of escapism because of the characters she places in spaces of colour. A way to briefly escape from this world and imagine yourself in another, full of playfulness and humour, to deal with the layered reality of life and death. Just as folkloric rituals and traditions do, for instance in the celebration of the seasons, to propitiate the gods, scare off demons and devils or celebrate fertility. Schabracq's work is a stylised theatre of her own cosmos, with references from art history and folklore such as costumes.

Carmen was born in Amsterdam (1988), where she now lives and works. In 2012 she obtained her BA in fine arts from the Gerrit Rietveld Academy, after a year of painting studies at the Academia di Belle Arti in Rome. In 2015 she obtained her MA in theater costume design at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp, with a research and body of work she called 'naked masks'. In 2017-2018 she received the ‘new makers subsidy’ from the Performing Arts Fund NL, with which she made two in situ performances in Zeeland. Her work has been shown in several museums, like Stedelijk Museum Breda, Museum Tot Zover, Amsterdam and Nest, The Hague.

 
  • 1988, Amsterdam, NL

    Education

    2014-2015 MA of Arts, Theatre costume design, Royal Academy of Art, Antwerpen B
    2008-2012 BA Fine Arts, Gerrit Rietveld Academie, Amsterdam NL
    2011 Erasmus exchange Fine Arts, Sint Lucas Academie, Gent B
    2007-2008 Painting, Academia di Belle Arti, Roma IT

    Grants

    2024 Europe Moves grant, Goethe Institute x European Union
    2024 Werktuig PPO subsidy, Permanent Professional Development
    2021 Mondriaan Fund, Covid support Artist NL
    2020 Amarte fund, project subsidy
    2017/2018 New Maker Subsidy, FPK Dutch Performing Arts Fund, NL

    Residencies

    2024 Artist in Residency, Lotto Zero Textile Centre, Prato Italy
    2022 Artist in residency, BijlmAIR, CBK Zuidoost, Amsterdam NL
    2021 Artist in residency, Kunsthuis SYB, Beetsterzwaag NL
    2021 Artist in residency, ARV.International, Vishovgrad Bulgaria
    2020 Artist in residency, Vincent van Gogh Huis, Zundert NL
    2020 Artist in residency, Opium Atelier Radio 4, Hilversum NL
    2019 Artist in residency, Casa Lü Parque Hundido, Mexico City MX

    Works in collections

    Amsterdam Museum NL
    Art Collection Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam NL
    Centrum Beeldende Kunst Zuid Oost NL
    Vincent van Gogh Huis NL
    Akzo Nobel Art foundation NL

    Exhibitions (selection)

    2024/2025 Vrouwen van Amsterdam - een Ode, group show, Amsterdam Museum
    2024 When roots start riding horses, Galerie Fleur & Wouter, Amsterdam
    2024 PAN art fair, group show, Galerie Fleur & Wouter
    2024 It hûs is net ien, SYB triënnale, group show, Kunsthuis Syb, Beetsterzwaag
    2024 Vrouwen van Zuid Oost, group show, OSCAM / Amsterdam Museum
    2024 Limburg Biënnale, group show, Marres & Odapark, Maastricht
    2024 I turn my blood into milk for you, solo, Metroscope Tolhuistuin, Amsterdam
    2023/2024 Delicious Death, group show, Museum Tot Zover, Amsterdam
    2023 Some One No One and One hundred thousand, Solo, Studio Seine, Rotterdam
    2023 Continue This Thread, group show, Amsterdam Museum
    2023 Solo booth, Galerie Fleur & Wouter, Kunst RAI, Amsterdam
    2023 The Grand Palace of Everyone, group show, Nest Ruimte, Den Haag
    2022/23 Van Gogh als inspiratie - Aanwinsten, group show Vincent Van Gogh Huis
    2022/23 BijlmAIR, group show, CBK Zuid-Oost, Amsterdam
    2022 Day of the Donkey, duo with Dodi Espinosa, Galerie Fleur & Wouter, Amsterdam
    2022 CABEZAS, solo, Art Bar Kippy, Amsterdam
    2022 Outsider Land, duo with Jacquelien Gosschalk, Outsider Land, Amsterdam
    2022 ICONS, group show, Factor-IJ, Amsterdam
    2022 Depend On Me, group show, Punt WG, Amsterdam
    2021/‘22 Vanwege Vincent, group show, Stedelijk Museum Breda
    2021 On Empirical Grounds, group show, De Bouwput, Amsterdam
    2021 Unity Duality Trinity, group show curated by AXS Art, De School, Amsterdam
    2021 Dionysian Days, solo, Gallery Heerz Tooya, Veliko Turnovo, Bulgaria
    2021 This Art Fair, The Salon of the Lazy Horse, solo stand, Amsterdam
    2020 Extravaganza, group show: Jan Hoek, Eleonora Stol & me, Galerie Fleur & Wouter,  Amsterdam NL
    2020 Vincent van Gogh Huis AiR, solo show, Van Gogh Galerie, Zundert NL
    2020 20 jaar Zeeland Nazomer Festival, video & installation, group show, Middelburg NL
    2020 Sighing Masks, etalage installation & show, CBK Amsterdam NL
    2019 La Realidad del Perro, group show, Casa Lü, Mexico City MX
    2019 Ambassade van de Noordzee, lecture & group show, Stroom Den Haag & strand  Scheveningen NL
    2019 Dicke Mädchen, group show with Rosa Schützendorf & Jack Davey, Antwerp Art Weekend B
    2018 Kustpijn Paardenkracht, installation, Kloostergang Abdij plein, Middelburg NL 2017 Maskerade, Masks in art and the art of the mask, Stichting Polderlicht, Amsterdam NL
    2017 Imagine Film Festival, installation, Eye Film museum, Amsterdam NL
    2016 De Bonte Duif en het Zwarte Padje, group show, Bellamy Kabinet, Amsterdam NL
    2016 XII, group show, 12 hour exhibition XII, W139, Amsterdam NL
    2016 Conceal to Reveal, solo show, Weekender, Punt WG, Amsterdam NL
    2016 Occultare per Mostrare, solo show, Galleria Grefti, Umbertide IT

    Performance (selection)

    2024 I turn my blood into milk for you, performance at PAN art fair
    2022 Apotropaic Mask performance, SUPRISE, Tomoko Mukaiyama x Tropenmuseum, Amsterdam 2022 Day of the Donkey, Galerie Fleur & Wouter, Amsterdam
    2022 Agave, Club M, Dordrechts Museum x Kunstmin, Dordrecht

    2022 Becoming Vincent, Starry Night, Stedelijk Museum Breda

    2021 Becoming Vincent, Galerie Fleur & Wouter, Amsterdam

    2020 Xolotl guide to the underworld, performance in collab. with Project Wildeman, Amsterdam NL

    2020 Listening to the political voice of the sea, Ambassade v/d Noordzee, Frascati, Amsterdam NL

    2019 Minotaurus, interactive installation in colab. with BREI, Festival Boulevard, Den Bosch NL 2018 Kustpijn Paardenkracht, performance, Zeeland Nazomer Festival, Zoutelande NL

    2018 De Poesie Bar, Eddie and the Eagles, Bimhuis, Amsterdam NL

    2017 Sint Nicolaas (hij komt, hij komt), performance show, Sint Nicolaas kerk, Brouwershaven NL

    2017 So you think you can DaDa?, group performance show, Leidse Schouwburg, Leiden NL

    2017 Heroines Circus, performance night curated by me and Renske van Enckevort, Sociëteit  Sexyland, Amsterdam NL

    2016 Is your body the pedestal of your head?, 12-hour performance, XII, W139, Amsterdam NL

    Publications

    2024 REAL Magazine #9 article on my work by Selma Lagewaardt & Ab Bol
    2024 Oefeningen voor een waterige politiek, Ambassade van de Noordzee, 2018-2023
    2023 NRC (newspaper) Interview 01.10.2023 by Ron Rijghaard
    2022 Metropolis M (online) 01.09.2022 by Vanessa Bakhuizen-van ‘t Hoogt & Liza Voetman
    2022 Interview in the newspaper, Het Parool, by Jan Pieter Ekker
    2021 Publication Vanwege Vincent, catalogue of the exhibition in Stedelijk Museum Breda
    2021 Een ander gezicht opzetten, interview on my work in Textiel Plus, 256
    2021 Becoming Vincent, I’ll never walk alone, publication of my AiR at the Van Gogh Huis
    2020 We are the collection, AKZO NOBEL Art Foundation 25 years of collection magazine
    2020 Jaarpublicatie 2019, Luisteren naar de Noordzee, Ambassade van de Noordzee 2020 Beroepsvereniging Beeldende Kunstenaars Magazine, #1
    2018 Is your body the pedestal of your head?, Book about my masks, in collaboration with Paul  Koeleman, with introduction by Alex Mallems and an interview by Renee Padt. 2018 Faceless Re-inventing Privacy Trough Subversive Media Strategies Ed. By Doringer,  Bogomir / Felderer, Brigitte.
    2018 From a creative nest: Carmen Schabracq, online article, ID magazine 22/02
    2017 Samen eten we Sint Nicolaas op, newspaper article, 1/12 Provinciale Zeeuwse Courant

    Commissions (selection)

    2024 Costume design for the opera production ‘The Gospel according to the other Mary’, Volksoper Vienna
    2024 Costume design, ‘I Love Roma’, by Giovanni Brand, Walhalla & Theaterproductie huis Zeeland
    2023 Masks for theatre production ‘De Eindtijd Revue’ by performance collective URLAND
    2022 Mask & costume design for the opera production ‘I Have Missed You Forever’, Dutch National Opera
    2020 Costume design & scenography, ‘Beige’, by Sheralynn Adriaanse, Stichting Likeminds
    2020 Costume design & scenography, ‘Djinns’, by Ko van den Bosch, Stichting Likeminds
    2019 Scenography, The tragedy of Slaughtervaart, Dood Paard
    2019 De Minotaurus, interactive sculpture in collaboration with BREI, Stip, festival Boulevard
    2018 De Zeemond, interactive sculpture, commissioned by Ambassade van de Noordzee
    2017 Costumes and scenography for ‘Het raadsel van alles wat leeft’, Dood Paard
    2017 Costumes and scenography for ‘Terug naar huis’, Naomi van der Linde, Oerol Terschelling
    2017 Costume design & scenography, ‘Hiroshima mon amour’, Zuidpool, Zeeland Nazomer Festival, Tholen