VIDEO/TAKE: BELGIË – ARGENTINIË 1976

In 1976, the fifth edition of the International Open Encounter on Video took place at the International Cultural Centre (ICC) in Antwerp— a key moment in the early history of video art. The event was organised in collaboration with the Argentine Centro de Arte y Comunicación (CAyC), led by Jorge Glusberg, and hosted in Antwerp by ICC director Flor Bex. Together, they built an international network in which artists, curators, and critics came together around this new and experimental medium.

The gathering brought participants from more than twenty countries and underscored the growing role of video as both an artistic and communicative tool. Exhibitions were interspersed with lectures and discussions exploring the aesthetic, social, and ideological possibilities of the medium.

During Antwerp Art Weekend, M HKA, De Cinema, and graphic designer Jelle Jespers present a selection of Belgian and Argentine video works that were shown in Antwerp fifty years ago. These works are presented on the big screen for the first time, featuring contributions by, among others, Jorge Glusberg, González Mir, Alberto Pellegrino, Mirtha Dermisache, Gregorio Klimovsky, Leo Copers, Filip Francis, Pierre Courtois, Hubert Van Es, Lili Dujourie, and Roger Steylaerts & Chris Goyvaerts.

The video presentation connects to the ongoing archival display Nueva Visión. Printed Matter as Artistic Practice (1940–1976) at M HKA, in which Jespers explores graphic design and printed matter in Argentina as a space for experimentation, exchange, and social engagement. Between 1940 and 1976, printed matter functioned as a free space for ideas, where artists, designers, and thinkers engaged with form, language, and politics.

Following this, at 8 pm, the Antwerp premiere of UNLABELED. FIVE BELGIAN GRAPHIC DESIGN ARCHIVES will take place. What happens to the creative memory of a graphic designer? Five Belgian designers open their archives and guide the audience through decades of graphic work—“Is what is not preserved lost forever?” The screening will be introduced by filmmaker Laura De Baudringhien.