About
Val Smets (b.1991)
Visual Artist
Lives and works in Brussels and Helsinki
© Valentine Woronoff
Val Smets is an interdisciplinary artist born in Luxembourg and based in Brussels. Her practice combines painting, sculpture, sound, and scent, exploring the human body and its relationship to the environment. Smets holds a BF from La Cambre (ENSAV), Brussels, and an MFA in Painting from the Academy of Fine Arts of Uniarts Helsinki. Her work has been exhibited in multiple solos and group shows in Brussels, Graz, Vienna, Helsinki, Luxembourg, and Paris. Past residencies include Das Weisse Haus residency, Styria-artist-in-residence Scholarship in Graz, Austria, and Utö residency in Aland Islands.
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2024
Liaison | Better Go South, Stuttgart (DE)
YLA - Young Luxembourgish Artists | Valerius Gallery, Luxembourg (LU)
Art Paris | Gallerie Rabouan Moussion, Paris (FR)
2023
Fantastic Figures | Better Go South, Stuttgart (DE)
Art Paris | Gallerie Rabouan Moussion, Paris (FR)
BAD Bordeaux | Gallerie Rabouan Moussion, Paris (FR)
Rose | Alienor Prouvost, Brussels (BE)
Wonders | Demain Art x Kick Cancer Belgium
2022
Blossom | Gallerie Rabouan Moussion, Paris (FR)
Luxembourg Art Week | Valerius Gallery (LU)
Art Paris | Gallerie Rabouan Moussion, Paris (FR)
Callings from the deep | Das Weisse Haus | Wien, (AU)
BAD Bordeaux |Gallerie Rabouan Moussion, Paris (FR)
Fir Gallery, Beijing (CN)
A Faux Pas, CAL (Cercle Artistique de Luxembourg), Luxembourg (LU)
Panel | Blue, Galerie Dumonteil, Paris (FR)
2021
A.A.A.B, Roter Keil, Graz (AU)
YLA - Young Luxembourgish Artists, Valerius Gallery, Luxembourg (LU)
2020
Kuvan Kevät | Exhibition Laboratory | Helsinki, (FI)
BADERVERBOT - Ausstellung im Fluss-Walle 2 | Schaumbad | Graz, (AU)
Rendezvous im Bad:Digitales Brennen, collab with Stefan Lozar | Schaumbad | Graz, Austria
2019
SHARING NOTES (feminist gathering) | Exhibition Laboratory | Helsinki, (FI)
HOW TO SURVIVE KAAMOS | Vapaan Taiteen Tila | Helsinki, (FI)
Fantôme + Aave | Vapaan Taiteen Tila | Helsin- ki, Finland | De Medicis Gallery | Paris (FR)
2018
L’ombre du zèbre n’a pas de rayures | Espace Vanderborght | Brussels, (BE)
Exchange Exhibtion | Tasku Gallerie | Helsinki, (FI)
2017
4ward 4what 4months 4students 4openings | Tasku Gallerie | Helsinki, (FI)
2016
What Happened to the Shinny Cakes? | Chaussée de Vleurgat 311 | Brussels, (BE)
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2024 Guest House | Rabouan Moussion, Paris (FR)
Will go undersky | Esther Verhaeghe – art concepts, Brussels (BE)
2023
Pig and Pepper | Valerius Gallery, Luxembourg (LU)
2022
Blue Brain | Fondation Moonens, Brussels (BE)
Bittersweet Invaders, 1 year installation at Kunsthaus Graz & Kunsthauscafe, Graz (AU)
Living Riddles, AFC Collection, Brussels (BE)
2021
MORE, MORE, MORE!; Schaumbad, Graz (AU)
Living Room, Galerie Zimmermann Kratochwill, Graz (AU)
Troublemakers, Gallerie Kajava, Helsinki (FI)
EDUCATION
2021
MFA, Painting | Academy of Fine Arts of the University of the Arts (KUVA) | Helsinki, Finland
2018
Exchange Program (1 year) | Academy of Fine Arts of the University of the Arts (KUVA) | Helsinki, Finland
2017
BFA, Painting | Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Arts Visuels La Cambre (ENSAV) | Brussels, Belgium,
RESIDENCIES
2022
Das Weisse Haus, Vienna (AU)
Mycophilia research residency, Ayatana’s Biophilium, Canada
Nominated for the Edward Steichen Award Resident in New York
2021
STYRIA ARTIST IN RESIDENCE Scholarship, Austria
Artist in Residence, Berlin
2020
STYRIA ARTIST IN RESIDENCE Scholarship, Austria
2019
Telegrafen Impilinna: Artist in Residence, Utö
OTHER PUBLIC APPEARANCES
2022
The Art of Mushrooms / A Arte dos Cogumelos” Book published by Fundação De Serralves for the occasion of the Major Exhibition in Park of 2022
2021
Writers in (Climate) Crisis’Lesung at the Klima-Kultur Pavillon, Graz (5.8.) artistic translation (AU
Manuskipte - Zeitschrift für Literatur (Ed. 231) cover magazine
Interview A.I.R. Graz, ORF (22.02.2021)2016
Gallery Attendant (2 months) | STEMS Gallery | Brussels, Belgium
Photo : Studio View | January, 22 | Das Weisse Haus | Wien, Austria