Bio

Els van Houtert an artist and a researcher. Her academic roots are in anthropology and religious studies and therefore she examines each of her projects artistically, socioculturally, and philosophically. Her projects mostly involve & revolve around ritual practices, (micro) phenomenology of experience, other-than-human beings and new materialism.

Recurring themes in her works are the dynamic relationships between dreams, memories and possible realities. In her work, she explores daily life-as-it-can-be-lived, by taking a microscopic look at small everyday experiences, in order to bring to light the familiar and the unfamiliar in them.

Els’ work is expressed through multidisciplinary practice: academic and creative writing, field research, participatory observation, in-depth interviews, video art, sound art, drawing, painting, installation, time-based media and site-specific art.

Contact me

elsvanhoutert[at]gmail.com

[this section is under construction]

Exhibitions

Group

2020
Formers, Site Specific Art, University of Applied Arts, Paulusplatz 3, 1030 Vienna, Austria. [*Cancelled due to Covid-19*]

Schieben und Geschoben Werden. Das Fužine-Projekt., Vienna Art Week. https://www.viennaartweek.at/de/program/ film-screening-fuzine-projekt/ [Transl: To Move and Being Moved. The Fužine Project.]

Eco Sex, Vienna Art Week, Smolka Contemporary, Lobkowitzplatz 3 / Spiegelgasse 25, 1010 Vienna, Austria. https://smolkacontemporary.at/en/gallery/2020/10/4662
[*Postponed due to COVID-19*]

Films @ Angewandte, Angewandte Festival. https://angewandtefestival.at/

2019
Laundry Service – Open Studio Exhibition, Art & Science Open House 2019, Salzgries 14, 1010 Vienna, Austria.

Talks

2020
Fužine-Project: Living Rituals, Artist Talk, Vienna Art Week. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hY_sj3kozsA

2019
“But how does one study the (spiritual) experiences of people other than oneself?”, Solo Lecture, Artscience Practises, Salzgries 14, Vienna, Austria.

Events

2020
Small Things that Hold, Intervention in Public Space, Angewandte Festival. http://artscience.uni-ak.ac.at/activities?projekt_id= 1592295646909

Fuzzy Speculations on Neighbourhoods: Conversations around Speculative “Souvenirs” for Future Neighbours, Live Event & open discussion, Angewandte Festival. http://artscience.uni-ak.ac.at/activities? projekt_id=1592295646582
[Moderator/Co-host]

2019
(ongoing) The Elsewhere School “Research in Conviviality”, Group Project, Art & Science Students, Fužine (Croatia), Vienna (Austria). http:// theelsewhereproject.com/

Education

2019 – still. Art & Science (MA), Universität für Angewandte Kunst, Vienna, Austria.

2014-2018. Theology and Religious Studies (Research MA), cum laude, Culture and Religion: Religion Conflict and Globalization, University of Groningen (RUG), The Netherlands.

2010-2014. Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology (BA), honours, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU), The Netherlands.

Publications

2019
FuZine, Ongoing Group Publication (Since 2019). http://artscience.uni-ak.ac.at/activities?projekt_id=1585042285163

2018
Knibbe, K.E. & Els van Houtert. “Religious Experience and Phenomenology.” In International Encyclopedia of Anthropology, ed. Hilary Calan (ass. ed. Simon Coleman). John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., 2018.

van Houtert, Els. Living Daily Life as a Ceremony. About the Dynamics between Ritual Time and Everyday Life in the Spiritual Path of Camino Rojo followers in Uruguay, Master Thesis, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, 2018. https: //ggw.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/428/

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