2017-01-31

4764 - 20170416 - Belgium - Gent - James Welling: Metamorphosis - 28.01.2017-16.04.2017

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James Welling: Metamorphosis

With an extensive selection of work from the early 1970s to today, Welling’s exhibition at S.M.A.K. reflects the fundamental changes in photography in recent decades. In sounding out the medium’s aesthetic and conceptual foundations, the artist’s series spring continually from image to matter, from process to result, from representation to abstraction, and back again.

James Welling’s oeuvre refers strongly to the history of American painting and at the same time connects with the critical, post-modern debates that were current in the Pictures Generation scene in the early 1980s, where concepts of authorship, originality and representation were prominent. In addition to this conceptual basis, emotional states such as melancholy and nostalgia are distinctly present in the work of this artist, who often interweaves biographical elements with the history of photography. Welling’s photographic practice is comparable with that of a “ventriloquist”, as he himself once described it, meaning that he embraces many artistic languages through the filter of photography.

The exhibition is a cooperation of S.M.A.K., Ghent with Kunstforum Vienna, Austria.
Idea and concept: Martin Germann and Heike Eipeldauer.


S.M.A.K. - James Welling: Metamorphosis - 28.01.2017-16.04.2017
 
 
 
 

2017-01-25

4762 - 20170305 - BELGIË - OOSTENDE - Jules Schmalzigaug and the Futurist Cookbook - 29.10.2016-05.03.2017

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Jules Schmalzigaug and the Futurist Cookbook pays homage to the brief but intense life of this Belgian Futurist. 2017 marks the 100th anniversary of Schmalzigaug's death in The Hague. He was the very first Belgian painter to feature at the heart of an international avant-garde movement: Italian Futurism. In fact, he reached the peak of his artistic career in 1914!

This retrospective looks back at the short but extremely powerful Futurist period which Schmalzigaug experienced in Italy and later as a refugee in The Hague.

Artistically inspired by the Italian Futurists Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, Giacomo Balla, Umberto Boccioni, Carlo Carrà and Gino Severini, who regarded him as a talented kindred spirit and friend, his authentic style earned a great deal of respect.

This exhibition establishes a dialogue between Schmalzigaug's Futurism, that of his Italian associates and the work of other Belgian avant-garde artists such as Paul Joostens, Pierre-Louis Flouquet, Prosper De Troyer, Edmond Van Dooren and others who felt the influence of Futurism for a brief period after 1917.



Mu.Zee - Jules Schmalzigaug and the Futurist Cookbook  - 29.10.2016-05.03.2017
 
 
 
 
 
 

2017-01-18

4760 - 20170122 - BELGIË - BRUSSEL - 'Modernity à la belge' - 14.10.2016-22.01.2017

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The exhibition "Modernity à la belge" retraces Belgian Art over more than a century through paintings, drawings and sculptures from the Modern Art collection of the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, as well as some invited major art works.

The term Modernity reaches far beyond a certain period in our history of Fine Arts, it stands above all for the enthusiasm of that period. Being initiated at the end of the 19th century by Baudelaire, it embodies an ideal combining technological and intellectual development. Yet it has never stopped causing a stir, generating concepts such as anti-modernity or postmodernity. First, Modernity was rejected for not respecting the legacy of the past; later on, it was said to have led to Nazi barbarism and the technology of death. The question is: which place does Art take in this debate? The artists to be seen in the first part of “Modernity à la belge”, all wanted to influence society: Wiertz,  Rops, Ensor, Wouters, Vantongerloo, Servranckx, Magritte, Delvaux, Permeke, Van den Bergh, Alechinsky, Dotremont, Broodthaers and also Tuymans. Being gathered in a blueprint of a Modern Art Museum, they all translate this preeminent modern spirit, while challenging the often authoritarian Avant-garde.

The second part of the exhibition adds the specific Belgian dimension to this cultural Modernity. Does a Belgian Modernity really exist? How did it arise and under which forms does it continue to live? What is the idea of Avant-garde in Belgium? What can be concluded from the confrontation with major international artists such as Chagall, Rouault, Jorn or Segal? What does “Belgian” Art and “Belgian” Modernity mean? Many questions to be answered by each visitor individually. It is all open for discussion!




Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium - 'Modernity à la belge' - 14.10.2016-22.01.2017 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

2017-01-11

4758 - 20170305 - BELGIË - GENT - Hands on Design - 19.11.2016-05.03.2017

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8th Triennial for Design
The chemistry between the maker, the designer and the company
‘Hands on Design’ showcases design that is inspired and produced thanks to the innovative power of traditional methods and craftsmanship. Discover that chemistry this autumn in Design museum Gent.

From 19 November 2016 until 5 March 2017, ‘Hands on Design’ will show a superb selection of contemporary and historic design products, which are perfect examples of outstanding craftsmanship and the master’s touch. As a user, you can feel the difference between a store-bought kitchen knife or chair and a hand-made knife or chair, but sometimes it is difficult to pinpoint that difference. ‘Hands on Design’ reveals this invisible added value, the influence of the master’s touch and craftsmanship. Stroll through the maker’s house, his workshop and design studio. Take a closer look at his drawings and computer models. Learn about prototypes, materials and tools. Discover the human touch in familiar and brand-new utensils. Learn how designers, makers and companies push back boundaries and find new applications for centuries-old techniques. By processing familiar materials such as stone, wood, glass, leather, bronze in new and different ways.

Curator Johan Valcke spent two years searching for brand-new utensils by emerging young designers, established design studios and local businesses. He also brought together designers and companies, which led to some novel design products that will be shown for the first time during ‘Hands on Design’. Design museum Gent has juxtaposed these designs with surprising masterpieces from its own collection. MaisonCaro designed the exhibition’s scenography.

 
 
 
Designmuseum Gent - Hands on Design - 19.11.2016-05.03.2017
 
 
 
 
 
 



 

2017-01-04

4756 - 20170205 - BELGIË - ANTWERPEN - From Broodthaers to Braeckman. Photography in the Visual Arts in Belgium - 06.10.2016-05.02.2017

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Through representative examples From Broodthaers to Braeckman. Photography in the Visual Arts in Belgium shows how the medium of photography entered the field of visual arts in Belgium and how it evolved into an independent artistic medium between 1960 and 1990.
 
Its location between major artistic centres such as London, Amsterdam, Dusseldorf and Paris, and the presence of important collectors and visionary gallery owners, turn Belgium into an important meeting place for the international art world in the 1960s and 1970s. A rising  generation of Belgian artists comes into direct contact with international artistic trends like conceptual art, Fluxus and the Situationist International. Local artistic traditions too influenced their practice. Especially striking is the legacy of the Brussels surrealists, in particular the work of René Magritte and Paul Nougé. Moreover, the strong pictorial tradition of the Low Countries, and by extension Europe, turns out to have had a decisive influence on the work of the artists selected for this exhibition, which is characterised by a constant attention to their surrounding reality.
 
The exhibition opens with the photographic work of three pioneers of conceptual art in Belgium: Marcel Broodthaers, Jacques Charlier and Jef Geys. Subsequently, the breakthrough of photoconceptualism in Belgium can be seen in the work of Jacques Lennep, Jacques Louis Nyst, Jacques Lizène, Philippe Van Snick and Danny Matthys. Finally, the transition of photoconceptual work to the photographic tableau – the ever growing mixture of photography and painting – is shown by means of the work of Lili Dujourie, Jan Vercruysse, Ria Pacquée, Liliane Vertessen and Dirk Braeckman.
 
The exhibition From Broodthaers to Braeckman. Photography in the visual arts in Belgium is based on the doctoral research of Liesbeth Decan: Conceptual, Surrealist, Pictorial: Photo-based Art in Belgium (1960s-early 1990s), which appears as a book concurrently with the exhibition as part of the Lieven Gevaert Series (Leuven University Press). 
 
 
 
MUHKA - From Broodthaers to Braeckman. Photography in the Visual Arts in Belgium 06.10.2016-05.02.2017