Casper Fitzhue & Bart Van Dijck

Bart Van Dijck is interested in the unknown human psyche and collective consciousness. Ceremonies make up the focus of his art practice, as moments in time where the individual and the group merge and communities can express their identity. Experimenting with participation, collaboration and ritualisation, Van Dijck deploys art as a tool for personal transformation through collective interaction.

Casper Fitzhue was the alter ego of Romanian visual artist and writer Marius Popa, creating work that reflects the nature of the medium, mass media and mediation. Taking on a role as artistic mediator, Casper brought artists and differently-abled people together and encouraged them to engage in creative dialogue and production. In 2020, he renounced this identity to take back his birth name.

The layered project URS Spirit was inspired by the artists' many trips to the eastern Carpathians and their immersion in the local winter ritual of the dancing bear. Fitzhue and Van Dijck worked closely together, combining elements from Belgian and Romanian folklore to create their own unique initiation ritual. The exhibition at CIAP follows the cycle of the bear's hibernation, but also evokes a journey, a metaphorical transition from life to death, to rebirth. It is a call to rediscover our relationship with nature through observation. A medicinal drink was also brewed for use during the ritual, with the help of the Hasselt Gin Museum's master distiller Jan Kempeneers. It was based on herbs and roots that the brown bear eats to regain its strength after a long winter's hibernation.