Tobias Rehberger | Sex and Friends

Posted on 24/01/2012 by W&V

The work of Tobias his recent exhibition at the Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens in Belgium has now moved on and is on show at the Pilar Corrias Gallery in London. The show carries the title: Sex and Friends

Tobias his conceptual art installation set up at Pilar Corrias Gallery explores again the conflict between functionalism and aesthetics and again questions and plays with the notion of art and its various strategies. The main key element of this specific installation is transformation. This key element is not only linked to the change of the space itself but also to the transformation during a specific time frame and especially the transformation of the viewer, his/her behaviour and thoughts.

The series of sculptures in this installation seem abstract and find their “ghost-image” counterpart in the amorphous shadows they project on the walls. The art works transmit words and patterns onto the surfaces around them. The sculptures and their shadows are dynamic in a reversed way. They encourage the viewer to move and look at them from various perspectives. By doing that they shift and transform themselves. During brief moments of the day the shadows come together and form a “hidden” message. The visual message itself becomes less important as the event is basically already known and announced to the viewer who visits the gallery space, however what is important in this conceptual installation is that the upfront announced “hidden” feature/message does right away influence and transform the viewers behaviour and thoughts.

Sex and Friends is running until February 17, 2012 at Pilar Corrias Gallery, London.
You can read more about Tobias Rehberger and his work in this, this and this article on the Warmenhoven & Venderbos blog.

Photos by: Tobias Rehberger | Pilar Corrias Gallery

Douglas Gordon | Exhibition | MMK Frankfurt

Posted on 12/12/2011 by W&V

The oeuvre of Scottish conceptual artist Douglas Gordon comprises of films, large video installations, photographs, texts, sculptures and sound installations.
With his analyses of images drawn from the collective memory and everyday culture, Gordon exposes basic patterns of perception. Within this framework, his works often revolve around phenomena of duplication and reflection. Meanings of mirroring and fragmentation are also evoked on a formal level, for example in large scale film and video installations which are presented on two or more screens.

At this moment the Museum für Moderne Kunst Frankfurt am Main (MMK) is showing a major solo exhibition of the artist titled “Douglas Gordon”. The exhibition shows new pieces and prominent works of the past years and provides a concentrated and impressive overview of this multifaceted artist’s oeuvre. It will run untill the 25th March 2012.

In the below videos the artist and staff of the Museum explain more about the works.

Photos Douglas Gordon and MMK Frankfurt | Video top: Institut für Kunstdokumentation | Video bottom: MMK Frankfurt | MMK website

Marcel Broodthaers | The Marcel Broodthaers cabinet

Posted on 20/05/2011 by W&V

MARCEL | The Marcel Broodthaers cabinet is a proposal to present the oeuvre of artist Marcel Broodthaers in the S.M.A.K. museum. The increasing significance of Broodthaers’ work as part of the collection gradually led to the idea of giving this oeuvre a permanent place in the museum. A place where the Broodthaers collection would not only be displayed, but also documented and set in a specific framework. Not as a monument or mausoleum in which the work is enclosed, but more like an intimate setting where encounters can take place and where Broodthaers’ work can be studied. To achieve this, in 2006 the museum held a competition in which three architects were asked to come up with a design for the project. The proposal ultimately selected was by architecten de vylder vinck taillieu. Their design devotes plenty of attention to Broodthaers’ work, but it combines it with the ease and practicality of a study centre. In terms of its form, the design clearly refers to the display cabinet, which Broodthaers used a great deal. This gallery is located on the boundary between the museum and the Floralia Hall behind it. This is also where the exhibition entitled MARCEL/Het Broodthaerskabinet will be held.
The exhibition in the Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst, Gent Belgium will run until the 5Th of June 2011.

Photos by: S.M.A.K. – Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst | Marcel Broodthaers |

Verbeke Gallery Avantgarde Art Exhibition | Martin uit den Bogaard

Posted on 09/05/2011 by W&V

The Verbeke Foundation opened recently, next to their fascinating large exhibition space at Kemzeke, also a gallery in Antwerp Belgium .
On the 12th of may 2011 a solo exhibition of avantagarde artist Martin uit den Bogaard will open at this Verbeke Gallery.
Martin uit den Bogaard is an artist who has been working for years with organic material in the shape of plants and animal tissue. He follows the decomposition process that takes place inside of glass “coffins” with photos, film and other electronic devices. One example of his astonishing work is the “Singing” series. In this series he measures the ENVI-voltage which is still in a cadaver and translates that fluctuations through a computer in picture and sound. The voice that you hear is higher or lower as the milti-voltage changes.

Solo Exhibition Martin uit den Boogaard:
Opening 12.05.2011, 18:00 o’clock
Performance 12.05.2011, 20:00 o’clock
Verbeke Gallery Antwerp.

Read also earlier posted articles about the Verbeke Foundation on the Warmenhoven & Venderbos Blog: Diary 250910 | Verbeke Foundation and Diary 061210 | Vernissage Verbeke Foundation November 2010.

Photos by Martin uit den Bogaard Collection Verbeke Foundation | Verbeke Foundation website | Verbeke Gallery website

Diary 061210 | Vernissage Verbeke Foundation november 2010

Posted on 06/12/2010 by W&V

The above video gives a snapshot impression from the vernissage of various new exhibitions at the Verbeke Foundations of modern avantgarde art.

One of the fascinating exhibitions is Certified Copy.
In a world where numerous multinationals multiply data banks destined to the patented reproduction of genetic information, the Verbeke Foundation organised an exhibition on the notions of copying and cloning. The exhibition unites the works of over twenty international contemporary artists, like for example: L.A. Raeven, Jonas Vansteenkiste and Janieta Eyre, who are concerned in the question of the reproduction of living and lifeless materials.

From delftware from the museum of Leiden over the masterpieces of Hirst, Murakami or Cattelan, to fluorescent transgenic fishes, all presented works give us the possibility to draw a parallel between both contemporary artistic and scientific practices. The characters of the Coco Chanel logo on the exhibition poster also evoke daily counterfeited products, and the expressions of Certified Copy, Carbon Copy and Creative Commons. In fact, the exhibition adopts a critical viewpoint on the motivations for reproducing works and living organisms, and on the stipulations of this reproduction in our globalised society.

Further exhibitions which opened at the vernissage are a retrospective of the works created by Mark Verstockt, Trou de Ville and De Wolkenbreier(s).

Certified copy, Mark Verstockt and Trou de Ville will run until 10th of April 2011.
Wolkenbreier(s) will run untill the 30th of Januari 2011.