History of Küf - Mold

The intial exhibitition of Küf-Mold was presented at the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul, Turkey

in the fall of 2007. Kuf/Mold came to fruition by KOOH working in concert with Marijke Bontinck (Belgium) as guest curator. They had known each other as friends and artists for years and started the project with the group of artists around them. After Istanbul, the project went on toin Gent, Belgium in collaboration with Erwin Keustermans (Belgium) and Ivo van den Baar (Holland).

The initial idea was to invite each of the artists to place a work of art in one the shops of Turkish traders, in the Grand Bazaar of Istanbul, the second year in the shops of the streets of Sleepstraat and Oudburg in Gent, Belgium. At this juncture Rotterdam - Oud Charlois will be next a in, September, 2009 in which the project will be further developed.

Kuf/Mold/ Rotterdam will be realized with the help and support of Wandschappen comprised of Ivo van de Baar and Nicole Driessens, and with Lieve D’Hondt of Belgium, as a guest curator.

Istanbul 2007 was a confrontation of contemporary visual art with the Grand Bazar, the historical trade center on the border of eastern and western society. In this environment art was married with the daily function of business. Most of the works of art were already existing works for which a proper presentation spot was found in the area with some 5000 shops. Exciting discussions took place, because religious as well as purely commercial issues came up in this context. These are subjects which nowadays rarely surface in the contemporary western art circles.


Gent 2008 had a different approach. Sleepstraat and Oudburg are two streets in a poor neighborhood in the centre of the city of Gent, where a lot of Turkish people live and work. A strong eat-and-meet-culture for all people of Gent has been founded there, among a range of Turkish shops and restaurants. business were the locations for the More site-specific works were developed by some of the the international artists that comprise Kuf/Mold. The cooperation with the shop keepers had been generous and enthusiastic. During the four weeks of the show many of the people venturing out to see the installations in the shops were encountering those shops for the first time. In addition to the Sleepsraat, Oudburg venues there were two group shows were organized: one a program with performances and photographs in de Centrale, a multi-cultural music and art center and the other, a group show of all the participating artists in Gallerji Jan Colle.