Huskrooms

Walking Over In Your Oldest Shoes
Meeting Ancestors Seabottomflowers
Knowing What’s From Whom
Ripping Veils in Splendid Shreds of Doom
Under Braided Branches Regaining Power
For Old Times' Sake Cutting Timeless Compounds Loose

— Poem by Henny Baeken

Huskrooms is a traveling installation activated through performances and unfolding organically via interactions with its surroundings and participants. Comprising carefully collected and reworked textiles, the artwork interweaves relationally—like a living organism—with the space, people, weather, textures, and materials of its temporary location.

For Open Studios, Lili Vanderstraeten and Kito Kotsoane will share their work-in-progress. They warmly invite you to spend time in the square—feeling the space, materials, movements, and people. Engage by composing with them, simply hanging out, or taking a seat on the bench for a one-on-one performance—preferably with a pair of old shoes in hand.

Background

The artwork aims to create a space for self-encounter, shared environment, and collective action. It invites a slower perception of time and offers an 'offline' experience. What do we allow to exist? How quickly do we discard things—objects, and people?

In a world where the relentless pursuit of progress often sidelines rituals and shared narratives, Huskrooms seeks to carve out moments for reflection and stillness, where movement and transformation can emerge spontaneously, and feelings of grief, farewell, and mourning become tangible.

The project aims to "dress" people anew—restoring warmth, protection, and a sense of humanity. Through textile objects such as blankets and structures made from hundreds of sewn-together sleeves and pant legs, an ingeniously constructed living environment emerges, inviting collaboration, dynamic interaction, and collective discovery.

The participatory nature of Huskrooms aligns with the artistic principles of Brazilian artist Lygia Clark. As in her work, the physical and emotional experiences of individuals in relation to the group are central. The project functions as a platform for connection, experimentation, and rediscovery of the everyday, blurring the boundaries between art and life.