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“I wonder if there is really a place for art in a world that is increasingly and militantly dominated, and even terrorized, by technology, media, entertainment, consumerism and superficiality”: Jan Hoet expresses his concern about the function of art in the contemporary world. How can we react to a present paralyzed by fear without becoming mere heralds of an apocalyptic zeitgeist? How can artistic practice emancipate from a function of mere decorum or complete detachment from society? Camouflage, irony, direct attack: whatever strategies artists adopt to deal with this situation, art must remain that which “allows us to look beyond the edges of fear.”

Jan Hoet (Leuven, 1936 – Ghent, 2014) was a Belgian art historian and curator. In 1975 he was appointed director of the SMAK in Ghent, Belgium, which he founded. He was the curator of major international exhibitions including: Chambres d’amis in Gent and documenta IX (1992) in Kassel. From 2003 to 2008 he was director of MARTa Herford, museum for contemporary art and design in Herford