In the exhibition Heart on the Tongue, visual artists Mia Edelgart and Eva la Cour turn their gaze towards the public broadcasting of the 1970s and ’80s through a study of the work of Belgian film and TV producer Jef Cornelis (1941-2018). These broadcasts stem from an era and media landscape radically different from today, where debates branch out into countless smaller forums on digital platforms, drawing polarised lines and hindering collective discourse. Their revisitation of this pioneer of television culture seeks to both introduce his unique practice to a Danish audience and draw insights from his methodologies.

Edelgart and la Cour’s exhibition centres around Jef Cornelis, whose films and TV programmes produced for national Belgian television challenged ideas of what the medium can and ought to be, in both form and content. During his time, TV was a public broadcasting medium which served to create a common frame of reference and unify the population – unlike today, where the individual can choose from a plethora of on-demand streaming services.

Cornelis used the television medium as a platform for his evocative, sociocultural investigations. This is evident, for instance, in his architecture programmes featuring essayistic meditations on the development of urbanism and urban spaces in the 20th century, as well as the impact on inhabitants’ lives. Another one of Cornelis’ recurring themes is the art world, and in his portraits of artists and art events he portrays a comprehensive cultural-political apparatus of capital and power.

The title of the exhibition is a direct translation of the Flemish expression ‘hart up de tung’, which the two artists came across during their research. A former colleague of Cornelis used this expression to describe the approach and tone of Cornelis’ talk show programmes. The title captures the passion and directness of his productions, and in Flemish, the phrase can also be phonetically confused with ‘hard op de tong’, meaning ‘hard on the tongue’.

Edelgart and la Cour feel particular kinship with Jef Cornelis’ methodological approach and for the exhibition, they have created a series of new works in conversation with Cornelis’ archive. Through interviews and staged conversations, Edelgart and la Cour highlight the collaborative nature of Cornelis’ work and explore the relationship between communication and presentation, as well as process and production. Cornelis left behind a modest paper archive that sheds light on his working methods, but his television programmes have themselves become a unique archive of cultural and art historical documentation, and his productions have since been featured at various festivals and art biennials.

The exhibition presents two new film works and an installation by the artists alongside four TV productions by Jef Cornelis. In one of the films, Edelgart and la Cour visit Jef Cornelis’ archive in Brussels. The film is not a traditional documentary about a significant cultural figure, instead reflecting on how to access the past, and who takes care of and controls access to a legacy. In another work, they explore some of Cornelis’ television techniques, testing their effectiveness in contemporary discussions on the climate crisis.

Visual artists Mia Edelgart and Eva la Cour have put together a film programme featuring a selection of Jef Cornelis’ productions. It will be shown during the exhibition period at Cinemateket and Terrassen.bio.

Mia Edelgart and Eva la Cour
Talkshow nr. 1 (2024)
Video (94 min),
outlines on table

A bus winds its way through a bright-green Danish landscape. It’s the 1st of May. Aboard the bus are a moderator and three panellists: a nature guide, a literature researcher and an author, who describes herself as a farmer’s wife. During the journey, they discuss various views on agriculture. Intermittently, the scene shifts to a group of reporters, two of whom are the artists themselves. One of the reporters travels on the bus, which is equipped with a TV studio, hopping off at various locations to interview the people they encounter. Another set of reporters have been stationed at Fælledparken in Copenhagen, where International Workers’ Day is being celebrated. Here, they approach a wide range of people, asking them about their opinions of and connection to agriculture. Throughout, conversation is at the heart of the talk show, and in its essence, the work explores the possibility for collective conversation when a diverse array of individuals is given voice.

This is the first instalment in a series of talk shows regarding the climate crisis which Edelgart and la Cour aim to produce. Outlines for the following talk shows in the series are displayed on a table in the exhibition.

Featuring: Anne Fastrup, Kari Hald, Marianne Jørgensen, Åse Eg, Tinne Zenner, Aske Just, Suada Demirovic, Deirdre Humphrys, Anita Mathal Hopland, Lise Willemoes, Andrea Rygg, Ole Vang, Sara Sjölin, Sylvester Roepstorff, Julie Bezerra Madsen, Caro / Det vilde bud and the students from the nutritional assistant degree programme, staff and children at Smidstrup Farm (Bente, Magnus, Diego, Isabella) and the people in Fælledparken.

Technique: Tinne Zenner, Anita Mathal Hopland, Julie Bezerra Madsen and Aske Just

Mia Edelgart and Eva la Cour
Problems only got resolved when there was no more time left (2024)
Video (72 min)

In the film, visual artists Edelgart and la Cour visit the archive of film and TV producer Jef Cornelis in Brussels. They look back through his productions and speak to his colleagues, his close friends and his widow. Their approach echoes that of Cornelis himself: exploratory and inquisitive. They hope to gain insight into the heart of Cornelis’ methods and, not least, his approach to discourse about art, culture and urban gentrification. Additionally, the two artists aim to explore the role of public broadcasting and its potentials during a fertile time of experimentation in TV media. In the film, Edelgart and la Cour also reflect on their own work, the inspiration they draw from Cornelis, and how they keep their own position intact in their interactions with Jef Cornelis’ many former colleagues, all of whom offer distinct views on his body of work. The dialogue is self-reflexive and verges on the comical, performed as a kind of voice-over. The work consists of clips and stills from Cornelis’ productions mixed with footage from the artists’ visit to his archive.

Featuring: Kristine Kloeck, Bart Verschaffel, Paul Vandenbroeck, Pol Hoste, George De Decker, Guido Roy, Chris Dercon, Lieven De Cauter, Poul Nesgaard, people on the street.

Mia Edelgart and Eva la Cour
It is fiction, because I see it on TV (where I see Bruce Willis too)
12 stills, resin and print 

On 12 screens of clear plastic in assorted formats, Edelgart and la Cour present stills from various films and TV productions featured in the exhibition. The installation is an experiment which explores new encounters and interactions between the produced image materials – encounters which do not arise in a chronological order, as would be the case in the editing of films. The still images are extracted from the narratives they are part of to break with the film productions and instead allow alternative constellations and new connections to emerge.

Jef Cornelis
Ijsbreaker 16: ‘Lichamen – toonbeelden’ (1984)
71 min

This episode from the talk show series Ijsbreaker [Icebreaker] tackles the topic of ‘body culture’.  The live broadcast links three distinct locations:  a gym, a fashion magazine photo shoot and a TV studio. In the studio, a female philosopher asks critical questions about a modern-day culture obsessed with ideal body standards, which she argues encourages self-absorption and unoriginality. The programme seeks to map out a comparative study of various aspects of contemporary body culture, yet it also veers off, presenting clashes among unclear stances regarding the subject.

Jef Cornelis
Rijksweg N1
(1978) 
42 min

Rijksweg N1 is a principal route connecting Antwerp and Brussels: a road once bustling with traffic and a hub of life and activity. However, following the construction of a larger motorway, this main road is left largely deserted. In this TV documentary, Jef Cornelis and architecture critic Geert Bekaert explore the road as if it were a lost artery. The film comments on the impact of motor traffic on daily life when a road transforms from a meeting place to a neglected void.

Jef Cornelis
Beeldende kunst in België (1986)
59 min

The TV broadcast Visual Art in Belgium was conceived as a debate program about the state of Belgian art and, as is always the case for Cornelis, how art relates to TV. The occasion for the programme was the two major exhibitions, Initiatif '86 and Chambres d'amis, which took place in 1986 and were the focal points for Jef Cornelis’ most iconic work De langste dag, a six-hour-long TV transmission that covered the openings of the two exhibitions. In an exhibition hall with paintings by Rubens at KMSKA (The Royal Museum of Fine Arts), a panel consisting of museum directors, critics, and curators discusses current events in the Belgian art scene. The discussion is moderated by Chris Dercon (curator and later museum director), while an audience of artists, collectors and politicians listens on.

Jef Cornelis
Container 3:
‘De punzak van Heine’ (1989)
61 min

Container was a late-night live broadcast series which assembled a panel of contemporary young thinkers to discuss issues the hosts deemed important. The discussion took place in a container – a mobile space which could be placed at relevant locations. This episode delves into interpretations of history, exploring how philosophers, writers and artists approach history in times of rebellion and revolution. Reflections drawn from selected letters by prominent European thinkers are read aloud and discussed by the panel. One of Cornelis’ intentions was to examine whether television could create a space for intellectual conversation. The experiment failed, and it became Cornelis’ most criticised series, even taken off the air early. The guests interrupted each other and spoke all at once, alienating the general audience, and the programme thereby ultimately served to expose the medium rather than its content.

Featuring: Bart Verschaffel, Lieven De Cauter, Rudi Laermans and Paul de Vylder.

Jef Cornelis (1941-2018) studied set design and film direction at the Netherlands Film Academy. After completing his education, he settled in Antwerp, Belgium and was hired as a director at the art department of BRT Television in Belgium (later VRT). He worked here from 1963 to 1998 as a producer, director and screenwriter, and over these 35 years, he created over 200 TV programmes – reportage, portraits, talk shows and documentaries, many of which were live broadcasts.

Mia Edelgart and Eva la Cour are visual artists and friends. They have collaborated on projects such as self-organised educational programmes in Siggalycke – a decommissioned school in Småland, Sweden – as well as teaching and workshop activities at institutions including Art Hub Copenhagen and the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. For many years, la Cour and Edelgart have been occupied by methodologically oriented questions in relation to collaborative, experimental and precarious film practices.

Mia Edelgart is a graduate of the Danish Royal Academy of Fine Arts and currently works as an artistic researcher at PASS, Centre for Practice-based Art Studies at the University of Copenhagen. 

Eva la Cour is a graduate of the Jutland Art Academy and holds a degree in Media & Visual Anthropology from Freie Universität, Berlin, as well as a PhD from HDK-Valand in Gothenburg. She is currently a postdoctoral fellow affiliated with the research centre Art as Forum at the Department of Arts and Cultural Studies at the University of Copenhagen.

The exhibition has been created in collaboration with the research centres Center for Practice-based Art Studies (PASS) and Art as Forum at the University of Copenhagen, with which the artists are associated. The production of new works is supported by the two centres, Council of Visual Arts, Copenhagen Municipality and the Danish Arts Foundation.

The exhibition is supported by ARGOS, the Augustinus Foundation and the Ny Carlsberg Foundation.

The film programme is presented in collaboration with Terrassen, Cinemateket, CAFx (Copenhagen Architecture Festival) and AHC.

The screening of De langste dag is supported by Bispebjerg Local Committee, Flanders – State of the Art and terrassen.bio.

Thank you to Christoffer McSherry, Rasmus Brendstrup, Léon Huneau, Anni's, Ulla Dyrborg and Zora Kresak-Kiaer.

The artists wish to thank: Kristine Kloeck, Bart Verschaffel, Paul Vandenbroeck, Pol Hoste, George Dedecker, Guido Roy, Chris Dercon, Rudi Learmans, Lieven DeCauter, Koen Brams, Poul Nesgaard, Aske Just og Stanko Lugonja, Carl Henrik Nielsen, Jan Stricker, Neil Bennum, Kirsten Dufour, Léon Huneau, Louise Harbo, Mie Lund, Malte Max Lunden, Andjeas Ejiksson, Sebastian Hedevang, Deirdre Humphrys, Tinne Zenner, Cæcilie Østerby Sørensen, Johanne Løgstrup, Stine Hebert, Danmarks Busmuseum. Thanks to Art as Forum, PASS - Center for Practice Based Art-studies, Vandenhove Centeret, Ghent University, Argos – Laurence Alary, Jenthe Blockx, Katia Rossini, Inge Coolsaet. And thank you to all who took part in the productions of our films, including the people on the street and in Fælledparken, who took part in the conversation.