In Conversation: Joëlle de La Casinière and Caroline Dumalin
Artist Joëlle de La Casinière and curator Caroline Dumalin (Belgian Pavillion, Venice Biennale, 2026) came in conversation, as part Wisdom Should be Sung, an exhibition of the work of Sophie Podolski.
La Casinière was a close friend of Podolski, and a fellow member of the Montfaucon Research Center, Brussels. Caroline Dumalin is the curator of the exhibition, Le pays où tout est permis, at WIELS, Brussels (2018), a substantial exhibition of Podolski’s works, which had never before been exhibited. Together, they discussed her work and life, whose tragic brevity is outstripped by the impact and achievement of her ‘graphic poems’, drawings, prints, and collages. La Casinière shared unparalleled insights into the radical and experimental nature of the Montfaucon Research Center (1968-73), and the art production and activism that took place there.
6:30pm – Exhibition on view
7pm – Talk commences
BIOGRAPHIES
Joëlle de La Casinière grew up first in Madrid, and then in France, where she started to paint while studying literature. In 1965 she moved to Brussels where she continues to lead an “exemplary life” according to art critic and curator François Piron, who has organised several recent exhibitions of her work. For over five decades she has worked independently at the intersection of visual arts, poetry and film, on the fringes of the worlds of contemporary art and publishing and their trends.
In the mid-1960s J. de La Casinière sold her paintings and possessions and travelled to Latin America. There she began making films, first with Carlos Ferrand, and later Michel Bonnemaison, which documented the transformation of the social and economic landscape, particularly in Colombia and Peru. At the same time she developed a writing style that juxtaposed various elements: handwritten poems in different languages, advertisements, postcards, photographs, graffiti, drawings and collages, creations intended for her friends and family. The result was a graphic, multimedia form of poetry that transmits a cacophony of information, a form that the artist has explored ever since, utilising mixed media to make works that respond to and inform each other. Her series Tablotins for instance, comprised of over five hundred poem-paintings, also feeds into her numerous handmade books, which she has transformed into films and video experiments since the 1980s.
Caroline Dumalin is artistic director of MORPHO in Antwerp, Belgium, an artist residency and studio organisation that supports artists and artistic development. Previously, she worked as a curator at WIELS in Brussels. She is the curator of the Belgian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 2026, where she will present the performance exhibition IT NEVER SSST together with artist Miet Warlop.
Artist Joëlle de La Casinière and curator Caroline Dumalin (Belgian Pavillion, Venice Biennale, 2026) came in conversation, as part Wisdom Should be Sung, an exhibition of the work of Sophie Podolski.
La Casinière was a close friend of Podolski, and a fellow member of the Montfaucon Research Center, Brussels. Caroline Dumalin is the curator of the exhibition, Le pays où tout est permis, at WIELS, Brussels (2018), a substantial exhibition of Podolski’s works, which had never before been exhibited. Together, they discussed her work and life, whose tragic brevity is outstripped by the impact and achievement of her ‘graphic poems’, drawings, prints, and collages. La Casinière shared unparalleled insights into the radical and experimental nature of the Montfaucon Research Center (1968-73), and the art production and activism that took place there.
6:30pm – Exhibition on view
7pm – Talk commences
BIOGRAPHIES
Joëlle de La Casinière grew up first in Madrid, and then in France, where she started to paint while studying literature. In 1965 she moved to Brussels where she continues to lead an “exemplary life” according to art critic and curator François Piron, who has organised several recent exhibitions of her work. For over five decades she has worked independently at the intersection of visual arts, poetry and film, on the fringes of the worlds of contemporary art and publishing and their trends.
In the mid-1960s J. de La Casinière sold her paintings and possessions and travelled to Latin America. There she began making films, first with Carlos Ferrand, and later Michel Bonnemaison, which documented the transformation of the social and economic landscape, particularly in Colombia and Peru. At the same time she developed a writing style that juxtaposed various elements: handwritten poems in different languages, advertisements, postcards, photographs, graffiti, drawings and collages, creations intended for her friends and family. The result was a graphic, multimedia form of poetry that transmits a cacophony of information, a form that the artist has explored ever since, utilising mixed media to make works that respond to and inform each other. Her series Tablotins for instance, comprised of over five hundred poem-paintings, also feeds into her numerous handmade books, which she has transformed into films and video experiments since the 1980s.
Caroline Dumalin is artistic director of MORPHO in Antwerp, Belgium, an artist residency and studio organisation that supports artists and artistic development. Previously, she worked as a curator at WIELS in Brussels. She is the curator of the Belgian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 2026, where she will present the performance exhibition IT NEVER SSST together with artist Miet Warlop.
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