Kiss me is a mirror which is to be held in front of your nose, just like glasses, while you kiss someone: looking into your own eyes, you kiss the lips of another.

For Alone Together, Spincemaille and photographer Veerle Scheppers created photos of three couples using the device. The photos are presented in the public space of Leuven during Artefact. They can be found in people’s front windows, in bars, on poster boards in the street... The photos each tell a different story about the other and I: loneliness, aging love, narcissism, or just a funny (power)play. Visitors can also receive a poster during the festival to display in a visible place. An intimate act thus acquires a strange public character. Kiss me unites two complex forces of our society: hyper-individualism and the desire to connect with others. Or, how ‘likes’ always depend on the clicks of the other and people more than ever seem to be alone together.

Kiss me is a continuation of a series of viewing instruments that Spincemaille has been developing since 2009. They deal with perception, image/reality, the digital realm, narcissism and media. A selection of this series can be found on Ief's website.

Courtesy the artist and Veerle Scheppers
2020 - A2 posters in the public space
Artefact commission

Image credit: Ief Spinceimaille - Kiss Me © Veerle Scheppers

Ief Spincemaille
°1976, Leuven, Belgium

Ief Spincemaille is a Belgian visual artist who lives and works in Leuven. Spincemaille's practice traverses visual art, design, media art and performance. He investigates the boundaries of his field of work and plays with existing forms, out of an immanent criticism of the cultural institute and a desire/queest to close the gap between art and life. In his highly engaged social and political practice, he knows like no other how to combine miracle and poetry. Spincemaille graduated as a master in Philosophy at the KULeuven and studied jazz, modern music and music and technology at the L'aula de Musica in Barcelona. Together with Kurt d'Haeseleer, he has been coordinating the organization Werktank since 2010, a production platform for media art.