Helga Baert

Since 2006 I’m active as an artworker in the independent performance scene. I’ve collaborated with many independent artist and organizations in the past years in Brussels and Europe and was part of several transnational projects.

In 2008 I funded Mokum, a production & management platform for independent artist. In 2010 it got state funded and in 2013 I merged it with another structure - Margarita Production - to what it’s called today: Hiros.

Hiros is a platform for independent art practices that functions outside of a commercial logic. It supports development and offers a professional framework for production & adminstration, communication and diffusion. Hiros offers continuity, surpassing the boundaries of a project.

In 2018 I left Hiros as general manager. At the base of this decision lies the questioning of the predominant cultural policies and their influence on the ecosystem of the arts. A few of my concerns are the influence on market driven logics on the space for development and art production, the growing precarity of artist and artworkers and the shrinking space for risks in policies and institutions.

This summer I was invited by the Flanders arts institute to reflect on the space of development within the ecosystem of the arts in Flanders. Recently I also contributed to the Fair Art Almanac, a practical guide for working, instituting and policy making in the arts.

In September 2018 I’ve started as a financial manager of wpZimmer, an international residency space and organization focusing on the development of artist practices. wpZimmer is actively engaged in the exploration and support of new practices in the arts. As part of the informal European Network NOW we engage on the implementation of these practices also in a more international context.