A conversation with Collectief Verheven

Verheven surrounds, engulfs and takes over. Away from the “white cube idea”; at Collective Verheven's events, you experience art in an intense and all-encompassing way. With the main goal: to take the audience into another reality for a very short time. “The main thing we want to bring about is a sense of escapism,” Kim explains. “We are creating worlds around certain themes. To do this, we deploy visual art, our own discipline, but also collaborate with other creators and other disciplines. In this way, to create a big picture that a visitor can lose themselves in, and escape reality for a while.”

Kim and Marie may be the instigators and curators of Collectief Verheven, but they have now gathered around them a group of makers from all kinds of creative disciplines and backgrounds who are eager to be part of the mission. “We really like being able to show the intense power of art, and especially how powerful it is when lots of different corners of art join hands to create something really great.” Marie: “We ourselves were a bit done with the minimalist exhibitions, where art is placed in an empty space. Art is so much more than that, you can experience it in a very intense way. That's what we facilitate.” And so at an Verheven event you will encounter a range of art forms. Visual art, music, performance. But also smell, light and dynamics are manipulated to create a total experience.

Kim and Marie took their first steps as a collective through the Vakbroeders project from de Nachtzuster, which pairs young creators with creative professionals from the art scene. “Our Vakbroeder was Stijn van de Wiel, Belgian theater producer and director. He helped us a lot with directing an audience. Where do you put the lights and how do you place your scenery, to make sure the visitor experiences exactly what you want the visitor to experience? Stijn knew a lot about that from the theater world, which we hadn't thought about yet."

Meanwhile, Collectief Verheven is already three successful events, a residency period and a collaboration with Plak-o-licious further, but the dreams are not finished yet. Kim: “I hope we get to do many more amazing collaborations, with interesting locations, creators and festivals.”

Want to keep up to date with Collectief Verheven? Be sure to follow them on Instagram!