NUCLEO creates space for the artistic development of visual artists.
THE LIMINAL OFFICE
Naomi James Schatteman
BLANCO Zaal Coupure
Performance
Expo
“THE LIMINAL OFFICE is the very first office to treat liminal states with care. Paying attention to what is no more, what is not yet, the in-between, the transient”.
What is a ‘liminal state’?
Liminality is a concept originating in anthropology, first introduced by Arnold van Gennep (1909) in his study of rites of passage and later developed by Victor Turner (1967). Liminality refers to a temporary period of transition that occurs between an established situation and a new one. During this phase, familiar structures, roles, and routines lose their clarity, which can lead to feelings of uncertainty and vulnerability. At the same time, this “in-between” state also opens up possibilities for transformation, renewal, and the creation of new ways of being. We experience various liminal states in our lives. To name a few: a grieving process, relationship break-ups, moving, transitioning, birth, coming of age, etc. The term derives from the Latin word limen, meaning “threshold,” and describes the experience of standing at the boundary between what has already ended but not yet fully begun.
What does the liminal office do? How can you visit and participate?
The protocol consists of three parts and goes as following:
- PRT 1
Naomi welcomes people, with whom she has an intimate conversation about a moment when they have been in a liminal state or about the role of liminality in their lives. These intimate conversations are not documented. There is only the exchange of words and energy between Naomi and the people she welcomes, without any audience, in complete intimacy. To conclude the conversation, an ‘exchange agreement’ is drawn up. In it, the person concerned gives Naomi permission to enter the studio, carrying its liminal state.
- PRT 2
Naomi goes into the studio and generates movement — from the intimate conversation. No audience is present. This too is done in complete intimacy and with the utmost care.
- PRT 3
Immediately after generating movement, Naomi makes a registration on paper. A “drawing”.
“It is not really a drawing, it is a registration. A registration of energy. Of us connecting. Of me protecting your liminal state. Carrying your liminal state. Caring for your liminal state. it may happen that there is a longer period of time between the intimate conversations and going into the studio and generating movement. My body is becoming an archive of liminality”.
All registrations and ‘exchange agreements’ are kept — like dossiers — in an archive folder. You are also welcome to come and look at this archive folder and have a chat with Naomi about the work.
or
Do you feel that you would also like to have an intimate conversation about a liminal phase in your life? Visit Naomi during office hours, and go through the protocol with her. Allow about an hour.
- Open
• Wed 10/9: 12 – 14 & 16 – 19
• Thu 11/9: 16 – 20
• Fri 12/9: 16 – 20
• Sat 13/9: by appointment
DM @THELIMINALOFFICE
• Mon 15/9: 12 – 16
• Wed 17/9: 14 – 18
• Thu 18/9: 16 – 20 - Finissage
Sunday Sept 21 at 14
- Where?
Finissage
Sunday Sept 21 at 14
with a lecture by guest speaker Maarten Van Den Driessche.
After the lecture, there will be time for a discussion and/or ask questions about the work.
LMNL SEMINAR I – Les rites de passage. Chapitre I & II
duration 45 min.
With the Liminal Office, Naomi James Schatteman creates space and time for liminal states of being. With a bureaucratic protocol the artist carefully crafts conditions wherein mourning, heartbreak and existential doubts could be expressed and thus may exist. These are experiences that everyone knows, but have no place in a world demanding ever greater availability. ‘Liminality’ was first thematised in the work of the French anthropologist Van Gennep, who described it as one of the three phases of rites de passage. In a performative reading seminar, Maarten and Naomi elaborate on excerpts from Van Gennep’s source text. They wonder whether the ‘ancient experiences’ described in the text have actually disappeared or rather gone underground?
Maarten Van Den Driessche is associate professor at Ghent University. He teaches Theory of Architectural Design, Architecture Theory and History of Contemporary Architecture. He was editor and author of, among others, Robbrecht and Daem Architects: An Architectural Anthology (2017), Living the Exotic Everyday: Bovenbouw architectuur (2019), Composite Presence (2020) and More Than a Competition (2021). He is a founding member of labo A and of the ACC research group ‘Architecture Culture and the Contemporary’. His research focuses on design methodology, architectural policy, architectural representations and typological thinking in architecture. He is a member of the Ghent Architecture Platform.