The Brussels-based production and distribution platform Auguste Orts is founded by Herman Asselberghs, Sven Augustijnen, Manon de Boer and Anouk De Clercq.
In 2006, these four Brussels-based artists, active primarily (but not exclusively) in the expanded fields of film and video decided to join forces to found the Auguste Orts production platform, named after the obscure historical figure whose memory lives on in the street which houses the foursome’s headquarters until this day. Initially intended to address shared questions concerning production and distribution, the ambitions of Auguste Orts quickly transcended merely practical considerations; there were deeper reasons, after all, why these particular artists chose to exchange experiences and ideas, and these deeper reasons clearly relate to shared intuitions, sensibilities, and sensitivities vis-à-vis the film medium and the broader context of audiovisual production.
Herman Asselberghs, Sven Augustijnen, Manon de Boer and Anouk De Clercq, who all individually work predominately with the moving image, describe their practice as ‘…at the crossroads of cinema, video, audiovisual arts, documentaries, experimental films… where media and disciplines cross-fertilize each other.’ Closely collaborating with the organisation’s director Marie Logie on facilitating both the production and distribution of their own projects, Auguste Orts attempts to address a wider discourse through supporting other artists and occasionally organising an inclusive talks and screening program.
In-house productions include ‘Yves’ by French documentary filmmaker Olivier Zabat, ‘Probe’ by the Belgian digital artist Boris Debackere, ‘Blue Meridian’ by Sofie Benoot, the trilogy ‘Concrete & Samples’ by Aglaia Konrad and 'Printed Matter' by Sirah Foighel Brutmann & Eitan Efrat.
At the occasion of a first group show at LUX 28, London, the Auguste Orts artists have asked the UK composer Scanner to re-mix the soundtracks of their film and video work into a new composition. A second group show, Auguste Orts: Correspondence at M HKA, Antwerp offers old and new screen works as well as letters they have been writing to each other. Published by Sternberg Press and M HKA, this show’s catalogue Auguste Orts: Correspondence includes a lengthy conversation between curator Dieter Roelstraete and the Auguste Orts members.
Between 2007 and 2010 Auguste Orts was artist in residence at Beursschouwburg, Brussels. Since 2010 Auguste Orts has a partnership with Hogeschool Sint-Lukas Brussel.
End the Occupation? Auguste Orts subscribes to a comprehensive economic, cultural and academic boycott of Israel: PACBI.
Auguste Orts rejects a Flemish nationalist approach to culture and subscribes to Solidariteit maakt een cultuur groot.
At Schadekaart you can find an overview of cultural damage that is the result of draconic cuts in Dutch art funding. As the marchers on June 27 put it: 'We want to live in a country that invests in its future. We want to live in a country that doesn't just harvest but also sows. A civilization without a future is a future without civilization.'