Vermeir & Heiremans between Speculative Fiction and Operational Realism

Vermeir & Heiremans started their collaborative artistic practice, when they defined their apartment in Brussels as an artwork and created the Art House Index in 2006. In the following decades, they developed a deep artistic research practice focusing on the interplay between art, speculation, finance, and real estate. Ronny Heiremans and Katleen Vermeir have also successfully worked on Belgian art policy development and co-founded the artistic research platform Jubilee. We cover a lot of ground in our conversation, from financialisation for the public good to automated art dividends, real estate speculation, bottom-up policymaking, new ways of mutualization, and the lure of art cooperatives.

Links & References

Website of Vermeir & Heiremans: https://www.in-residence.be Art House Index: https://www.in-residence.be/extensions/view/39 / http://ahi.in-residence.be/chart.php Article on ‘A Modest Proposal’, https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/finance-and-society/article/modest-proposal-in-a-black-box/4586E97058B4581F71795AEDBB647E1C Art workers proof (kunstwerkattest): https://www.workinginthearts.be/nl/professioneel/kunstwerkattest/kunstwerkattest/wat-is-het-kunstwerkattest Jubilee: https://www.jubilee-art.org/ Commons to Coop Summer School: https://kunsthal.gent/en/agenda/jubilee-summer-school-2024-commons-to-coop

Cover image: graph illustrating A Modest Proposal (in a Blackbox)

About

Art in Permacrisis is a podcast on the organization of art workers in the face of the ever-growing stack of crises, published by the Institute of Network Cultures and Caradt. The podcast hosts are Candela Cubria and Sepp Eckenhaussen. This episode was recorded in Brussels, in a studio generously made available by Rune Peitersen and Level Five Cooperative.