Céline Lafrikh

resident Bosacademie

Céline will have a residency at Het Bos in July. She will show new work during Vruchtbare Grond festival from 19 - 28 September.

We asked Céline some questions:

How do you define success as an artist?

To me, a successful artist is someone who is able to translate their ideas, thoughts and mental images, into a work with less and less loss of definition. Success to me is also to stay young, to stay open and curious, to be an adventurer in this sense of exploring what it means to be alive and to be an artist. Being able to live and even thrive off your work, financially, is a success and is definitely desirable, but it is not a prerequisite for being a successful artist in the sense of being successful at making good work.

Why do you want to make art?

Because beauty is necessary. Because seeing a new shape, a new material, an old material used in a new way can be a fresh breeze into the stuffy room that an uninspired mind inevitably becomes. Because new ideas (or old ideas presented in new ways) are food for the soul and because swift and playful imagination is what keeps us young. Because I thoroughly enjoy making things and because the joy I feel when I interact with art (/architecture/nature/philosophy/…), that I connect with, can touch me as deeply as the touch of a lover, the laughter of a friend.

Describe your dream project?

A crisp image immediately comes to mind. I want to build a large large ethereal space where people can immerse themselves in a freeform, non-dogmatic spirituality. A space with objects that invite, question, inform, tingle and nudge visitors and make it accessible for them to engage with the invisible, to dip their toes in mysticism. A fully interactive space for unbridled ritual, with objects for wishmaking, corners for collaging, meditation pods, a small library, … A space that would, now and again, be activated with lectures and workshops around themes like somatic movement, meditative and trance states, dream interpretations, the power of the subconscious, the use of placebo, tarot readings, yoga, group meditations, … It would look like if Merlin, Buddha, Gaudì and an angel would be alive a thousand years into the future, would merge into one being, and would build a home that is also their workspace.