pause
Catalgoue with the works and information
Klaas Rommelaere and Nicola Baratto & Yiannis Mouravas
27.06.26 – 31.07.26
Please join us for the opening on Saturday, June 27, from 5–8 pm.
The exhibition brings together Rommelaere’s series Blood and Baratto & Mouravas’ site specific bench. Rommelaere’s hand embroidered works show fragmented images of memory. Soft, layered, and shifting. Baratto & Mouravas respond with sculptural forms shaped by myth, archaeology, and dreaming. The result is a merging of deeply personal and intimate memories with collective histories and dreams that remain open to reinterpretation, carrying traces of myth and memory into the contemporary landscape.
pause works as an interval rather than a story. A space where memories overlap and are constantly reworked. The motif of the kitchen table in Rommelaere’s work, as well as the bench in Baratto & Mouravas’ practice, can be understood as symbolic sites of transmission, where individuals gather to rest and exchange stories, memories, and experiences. In this context, dreams can be perceived as a means of projecting personal visions and emotions onto the common historical fabric
Ultimately, both Rommelaere’s and Baratto & Mouravas’ practices seek to reveal alternative narratives through moments of reflection and contemplation that connect personal experience, collective memory, and the remnants of the past. The exhibition looks at memory as something unstable, always changing through time, image, and imagination.
Klaas Rommelaere (1986, BE) works predominantly with embroidery. In his practice, the fabric becomes a means to visualize his experiences, his beloved characters, both imagined and real. The surreal scenes and figures emerge through threads of wool and yarn on fabric, photographic paper, and also as giant dolls. His work demonstrates how pop culture can be a comforting force in our lives. Rommelaere makes his intricately embroidered tapestries and tactile sculptures bridging personal and collective experiences. The work tells tales of his life and pays homage to the cult movies which have shaped his imagination. It is full of familiar images and symbols that represent both real and imagined human connections. Each of the pieces takes time and love to produce highlighting the importance of the human connection to the creation and consumption of art.
Graduated in fashion from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Ghent, he also holds Bachelor degrees in Fashion Technology and Visal Arts. Recent exhibitions included: Galerie Zink,Waldkirchen, Germany, Gallery Sofie Van de Velde, Antwerp (2025), Z33, Hasselt (2025),Ter Posterie, Roeselare (2023), and 38CC, Delft (2021).
Nicola Baratto (1989, IT) and Yiannis Mouravas (1986, GR) work with Archeodreaming a research-based method coined by themselves that questions the fluidity of history via exploring the intersections of histories and mythology along the overlaps between archeology and dreaming. It’s an investigation on the material aspects of dream documentation, that, by creating connections between archaic and contemporary cultures, develops poetic and nonlinear narrative forms, intertwining field and archival research with unconscious experiences. The research is mapping out a series of artefacts depicting dreams and practical methods of dream incubation, questioning whether dream practices can still be understood as a means to morph our present individual and collective socio-political lives. The resulting outcomes are told through mixed-media installations, including films, artist books, and sculptures.
Baratto graduated in fashion design from the Istituto Europeo di Design in Milan and Mouravas studied at the School of Fine Arts in Athens. They meet as part of the Dirty Art Department of the Sandberg Instituut in Amsterdam. Recent exhibitions included: In Debt Studio, Amsterdam (2024), Museo Arte Contemporanea, Alcamo (2022), Am Ende des Tages, Düsseldorf (2020), and MACAO, Milan (2019).