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fabel*

Studio

This kitchen is for dancing (pt.3) (2026)

What does it mean, to live in a room? Is to live in a place to take possession of it? What does that mean? As from when does somewhere truly become yours?
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This kitchen is for dancing (pt.1,2) (2025)

A personal research project on movement and familiarity in the domestic sphere, consisting of four interwoven parts. The practice-oriented experiments have a specific focus on an “imaginary” kitchen, formed from different kitchens in my tangible memory.
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Wat er al is (2024)

“Wat er al is” invites us to enter into a dialogue with our more-than-human world. By cultivating an equitable and reciprocal relationship, a dense, sentient world unfolds. In doing so, our world will undoubtedly be richer for it.

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Plateaukunst (2024)

Installation made for the annual art route held at the Plateau of Margraten, about the yellow iris.

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Reversed archeology (2024)

As a platform for architecture and design, Bureau Europa offers space for regional and local artists, architects, and designers to present their work.

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STEK #1 (2023)

A spontaneous collaboration between CC De Kimpel (Bilzen) and a group of local artists, working on or from the surrounding region.

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A missing kind of orange (2023)

‘A missing kind of orange’ is a group exhibition in relation to the color orange as a melancholic feeling and a sense of missing.

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Works on paper (2021-2023)

Sketches and drawings made around the theme of a “beacon”,
to be placed at a specific slope of the Albert Canal.
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Soft structures (2021-2023)

Small sculptures made around the theme of a “beacon” to be placed at a slope of the Albert Canal.

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Sarah-Joy Zwarts

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located at
Fietenstraat 4
3740 Bilzen-Hoeselt

The projects of Sarah-Joy Zwarts (1987, Maastricht NL) depart from a sincere interest in how we relate ourselves to our environment, its history and materials. Through images and words she explores how a dialogue can translate itself into new forms, while still being logically and sensitively in line with what is already present.

As the interplay between images and words play a key role in her projects, she informally founded fabel*. It functions as a place for her (con)textual thoughts and acts alongside physical projects performed in the studio, as both can never be truly separated.

From 2018, Sarah-Joy works as an educator at the Maastricht Academy of Architecture.

Currently working on:

This kitchen is for dancing - pt.4
Ceramic installation

fabel* 01 - Echoes
Publication

Ergens, in een zomer (op papier)
Charcoal drawings

Wintervacht (working title)

Last updated 31.10.26

To support her visual practice, Sarah-Joy consistently places importance on context-related research. fabel* was initiated to consistently give these meta-studies a place on paper.

A fable refers to a story—whether in prose or poetry, historical, legendary, or fictional. Derived from fari, meaning “to speak, to tell,” it literally translates as “that which is told.” It connects to fābula, meaning “report, story, play,” and is related to “tales” or “things often written about in verse.”

The art of fabling is one of the most fluid yet enduring forms of storytelling, resonating in nearly every culture. Fables have served as a vehicle for transmitting knowledge traditionally, and have therefore often been shared in series or collections. Their narrative usually revolves around a quest for insight, sometimes arriving at a new awareness - sometimes not.

A fabled creature is a fictional being spoken of by travelers: its body rests on four legs. The hand of its narrator offers it a wildcard—to question, to seek, and sometimes, to find.

Ergens, in een zomer (te voet) (2026)

A series of photographs taken during a stay as a Maaswachter, near and with the river Maas.

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Tracing Pikionis (2026)

A study visit to Athens to experience the work of architect Dimitris Pikionis firsthand.

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A place of drawing (2026)

A research about four works by Júlio Resende resulted in multiple layers of method, material, documentation, experimentation and this publication.

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Four works by Júlio Resende (2025)

To develop the project This kitchen is for dancing, Sarah-Joy sought examples of translations from paper to ceramics. During a trip to Porto, she encountered the work of Júlio Resende, a local artist who was known for his drawings-turned-to-ceramics.

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Untitled (Dorian) (2023)

A patch of ephemeral wildflowers in the city of Maastricht, inspired by the interior painting scene in Stromboli (1950) by Roberto Rossellini.

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