Ada Van Hoorebeke

Jester warmly welcomes Ada Van Hoorebeke. Over the past months, she has been in dialogue with our artist-in-residence Junghun Kim, preparing for their upcoming duo exhibition it will come from below. In this presentation, both artists engage in conversation—with one another and with the scars of the post-industrial landscape. The exhibition opens with the summer solstice on June 21 and runs until September 21.

Ada Van Hoorebeke (°1982, BE) questions the Anthropocene through archaic methods and circular processes. Craft techniques such as ceramics, batik, painting, and the production of natural dyes form the foundation of her installations and sculptures. Her work refers to folklore and personal work rituals within a post-industrial context. Fascinated by places where nature and industrial remnants converge, she explores the traces we—as humans—choose to leave behind.

She integrates the social and historical background of her materials in a non-hierarchical way, with collaboration playing a key role—be it with artists, collectives, or participants. Her works often emerge through slow, repetitive processes, which add a performative layer to her practice. Plants are cultivated, invasive species gathered, and waste materials transformed into dye. For these interactions with living and non-living organisms, she designs tools that populate her installations as functional sculptures.

Ada Van Hoorebeke has had solo exhibitions at, among others, n0dine (Brussels), Spoiler (Berlin), Kinderhook & Caracas (Berlin), Komplot (Brussels), and CC De Ververij (Ronse). She has participated in group exhibitions at M HKA (Antwerp), Anton Rosen’s House (Samsø), Mu.ZEE (Ostend), Kunsthal Gent, Kunst en Zwalm (Munkzwalm), Heidelberger Kunstverein (Heidelberg), the Austrian Cultural Forum (New York), WIELS (Brussels), Grimmuseum (Berlin), BankART (Yokohama), and Institut de Carton (Brussels).

She was an artist-in-residence at WIELS (Brussels) and Residency Unlimited (New York), and produced work during residencies at Agerup Grafiek (Samsø), Bixa Batik Natural Colour (Indonesia), Mbye Ceesay & Mussa Jaiteh (Gambia), and manoeuvre (Ghent).

In 2019, she received the Berlin Art Prize, and in 2022, a Sofam grant. In 2021, her work was acquired by the Flemish Community Collection. Publications include Pattern nor Painting (BOM DIA BOOKS, 2021) and Fake Calligraphy (with manoeuvre and Maartje Fliervoet, BOM DIA BOOKS, 2021).