Meri Toivanen (b. 1996, Finland) is an Antwerp-based painter who explores the borderlines of figuration and the symbolism of power games throughout the painting process. Let Sleeping Dogs Lie is her first solo exhibition and the culmination of her five-month residency at MORPHO this Spring, which was organised with the support of the Finnish Cultural Foundation.

In the exhibition, Toivanen depicts allegories of conflict and power in oil paint, in addition to experimenting with self-made pastels, ink, gouache, watercolours and ceramics. Referencing fragments from Finnish cinema, she plays with the transformation and disconnection of these images from their original material, place and context.

The fifth edition of UFO’s public program is co-hosted by MORPHO and focuses on the theme of process-driven practices.

Playing to the gallery, optimizing performance, perpetual productivity: it sounds like chapters from a neoliberal playbook on the meaning of work today. Artistic work is not immune to these forces. Factory mindsets need to be countered by laboratory mindsets to make exciting artistic creation possible.

This public program gives the floor to 6 international guests who invest in institutional or self-organized spaces for supporting the development of artists, in particular emergent bodies of work. During this evening, they share their strategies for holding space for process and ideas on why this is necessary. After their short individual presentations, you will be able to engage with them in smaller groups.

The talks will be held in English and introduced by Dries Segers (UFO) and Caroline Dumalin (MORPHO).

Speakers:
• Ane Agirre Loinaz – Tabakalera (Donostia/San Sebastián, EUS)
• Roser Colomar Palazón – Cultura Resident (Valencia, Castellón, Alicante, ES)
• Ola Knychalska – Kem & Zakole (Warsaw, PL)
• Musoke Nalwoga – MOTORMOND (Amsterdam, NL)
• Anna Smolak – Gray Fruit (Brussels, BE)
• Inez Piso-Tuncay – Hotel Maria Kapel (Hoorn, NL)

Program:
• 19:00 Arrival
• 19:15 Start presentations
• 20:00 Table conversations
• 21:00 Drinks in the bar/garden

UFO is the platform of studio organisations MORPHO, Cas-co (Leuven), De Tank (Bruges), Level Five (Brussels), NUCLEO (Ghent) and VONK (Hasselt-Genk). UFO actively thinks about sustainable solutions and creative models to offer affordable workspace for artists in the urban context. UFO supports the artistic and professional development of artists and connects, enlarges and gives visibility to the network of its members. This programme is part of the project ‘For and by Artists’ supported by the Flemish government and takes place in the framework of Antwerp Art Weekend.

MORPHO is a non-profit organisation dedicated to artistic development. They give time, space and resources to artists, with the aim of fostering a dynamic and sustainable context for artistic work. As a studio provider, they rent out workspaces in a growing number of buildings in and around the city of Antwerp. As an artist residency, they annually host around 20 residents from Belgium and abroad whom we support in their projects and trajectories.