Nele Thorrez

Text by Barbara De Vadder

For this workshop Nele Thorrez realised directions to my work, in which people had to follow certain direction, but never arrived at their destination. When the participants thought they had arrived at their location, a map told them that something went wrong and had that they had to start over. According to the artist, it is this frustration that evocates the component of humour, because we rely on technology to find the way, although those systems can also fail. For Nele humour is something that cannot deliberately be put into a work. It is there or it isn’t. If it is forced, it is doomed to fail. Nevertheless humour within art has the capability to create awareness of certain problems and frustrations. But the power of humour in a social context remains for the artist more on a level of relaxation.

Interview by Anne Bambynek and Kristof Neyens

Nele Thorrez, Directions to My Work

Where did you get the inspiration for this project?
I needed to go somewhere I’d never been before and I got lost. I used the GPS on my phone, but the app had some errors so it send me in circles. I thought that could be a nice thing to work with.

How do you start to make an object of art? Does the medium influence you?
The medium does not influence me, I can get my distance from the medium. I start with a feeling and an intuition, the rest flows out of the two.

What does humour mean to you? – How is humour present in your artwork or why isn’t it?
Humour is something spontaneous. If you seek it, you won’t find it. I don’t have humour in my work. Some may see humour in it, I’m okay with that, but I don’t initially search for humour. I don’t think about humour in my work, it’s not something that I want to have in my work.

Can humour and art be combined?
Yes.

Does recent technology influence you? E.g. computer games/social media/selfies/…
Sometimes, it depends on the situation.

 What did you think about the project/assignment?
It was a good workshop to get to know the aspect of humour and what it could be in art.