Collecting is a pathology from which Olivia Hernaïz gladly suffer. Through the assemblage of materials – ideas of passersby, derelict houses, political logos, bank slogans and fables – she tries to deconstruct collective beliefs. Her practice is multiple. From painting and drawing to digital printing, human size installations, model making and sound, Hernaïz chooses a medium according to her intentions for a project.

Dialogue is at the core of Olivia Hernaïz’s work. Her projects are all excuses to start conversations with others. These discussions first aroused while painting on the streets during the escapologist project Brussels Anti-Demolition Campaign. She then continued to pursue dialogue through participatory processes. Her project Would you like to make my portrait? questioned the criteria of talent. I had no idea engaged with shared authorship. The board game, Art & and My Career, places the players in the shoes of women in the art world. And the installation Culture Morte aux Bananes questions the relation between culture and nationalism.