16.11—09.12.2023
Eat the frog, swallow the ebb - Francisco Correia
Welcome on 16.11, 6 pm, for the opening of ‘Eat the frog, swallow the ebb’, a solo exhibition by Francisco Correia (Lisbon, 1996), concluding his one-year residency as the laureate of the Cas-co Bac Award. Every year, Bac Art Lab, Cas-co and Off the Grid select one of the graduates of Luca School of Arts for a double production and presentation trajectory in Leuven. The exhibition frames within Fringe, the off-programme of New Horizons — Dieric Bouts Festival.
“If it’s your job to eat a frog, it’s best to do it first thing in the morning. And if it’s your job to eat two frogs, it’s best to eat the biggest one first.” — Mark Twain
Last summer, I had been swimming in a stream of strange online content. I’d been binge-watching Succession and was hooked on all kinds of motivational talks about how to become a successful entrepreneur. These lectures filled me with a mixture of loathing and deep devotion to cheap, life-changing advice. I learnt that the daily schedules of famous people all had in common the few hours of sleep and eating crazy things at weird times of the day. I had always been picky about my diet and oftentimes irritated by the names of healthy things. Changing my diet was a no-go, but I could, in fact, do without a few hours of sleep — and also start jogging.
So one morning, I left my bed before sunrise and went for a run on the beach. I was certainly doing it for fashion, but it was rewarding to see the sun coming up behind the ocean and my feet treading on the wet, untouched sand. I fantasised about a life of elevator pitches, handshake deals and spending my days in an office close to the sky. After running, I felt in control of my body. My body, my temple, my life. I hadn’t fainted nor my legs had fallen off. At that moment, my communication skills were better than those of any character in Succession. Although in my life I was as far away from Rupert Murdoch as I was from Logan Roy. I stepped into the water, letting go of the weight of my body and allowing the morning tide to float me like a message in a bottle. I went back to my room, sensing that my life had just changed. I ate a banana, opened my laptop and started answering all the emails I’d been putting off for a long time.
Image: José Fernando Pereira
