Aurélie Bayad (°1994, Bordeaux) uses the medium of photography and film – which she often presents in specific installations - to explore the performativity of the self in the hybrid world between real life and digital phantasy. Experimenting with a fluid online alter ego, questioning traditional beauty standards, she captures the aesthetics and confusion of our times and the female exploring the self, her sexuality and the other. In the video I wish I could stay here forever, far away from you (2021-2022), she addresses an absent object of desire to whom she feels attracted. Using a post-internet visual language with different overlapping screens, she alternates images of herself with footage of her kneading slimy substances, accompanied by pulsating beats. Playing with online conventions - and at times hinting at a télénovela - she simultaneously seems to deconstruct this romantic trope as she is filming herself holding the camera or using the software to edit the video we are watching – as a mise-en-abyme. In this visual poem with an edge, Bayad evokes century-old feelings of lust, love, and longing in a refreshingly new way. In October 2023, Bayad participates in group exhibitions in UGM, Maribor (Slovenia) and Enveloped in You at De Brakke Grond, Amsterdam. Amongst her recent solo exhibitions Crush Machine, Tic Gallery, Brno (CZ) (2022) and Stel Tentoon expo #1 Aurélie Bayad, Stelplaats, Leuven (2021). She recently participated in Je t’emb(ar)rasse in DMW Gallery in Antwerp (2022); Sugar for the pill in De Studio, Antwerp Art Weekend (2022); Tiff. at FOMU, Antwerp (2021); Dream of Venus, In de Ruimte, Gent (2019); Biënnale van België, Gent (2019). Her videos have been screened at various festivals and events including the 37th Independent FilmFest Osnabrück (DE) (2022); Artists come out to play, won’t you?, at Tick Tack Gallery, Antwerp (2022); IBRIDA festival, Forli (IT) (2018); Nightwatch, FOMU, Antwerp (2017).