What’s that camel doing near the Royal Palace? A strange parade courtesy Pierre Leguillon, or: Teatrino Palermo on the move

I wonder what the Belgian king would have made of it, would he have opened a window of the Royal Palace, Saturday morning. A camel, carrying a puppet theatre? Near the palace, in the streets of Brussels? Many passers-by were wondering the same thing. What? It was a strange parade indeed, set up by Wiels, (SIC) and French (Brussels-based) artist Pierre Leguillon, in the frame of his Museum of Mistakes exhibition at Wiels (through February 22). The camel is a reference to the camel Marcel Broodthaers put in the lobby of the Palais de Beaux-Arts (Brussels) in 1974. The puppet theatre is a copy (courtesy Pierre Leguillon) of a miniature theatre made by Blinky Palermo (a friend of Broodthaers) in 1964. And where did the camel start his tour with the so-called Teatrino Palermo, on Saturday? Right: Rue de la Pepinière, where Broodthaers used to live, and also the place where the Belgian artist opened his alternative Musée d’art moderne in 1968. And where did the camel go to? Rue Ravenstein, where the theatre was exhibited in 1988, at Marie-Puck Broodthaers’ gallery. Yep: toying with references, concepts such as reproduction, re-enactment, movement and means of presentation… that’s Leguillon.

Ministry Of Silly Walks opens Brussels bureau, or: Theo Cowley’s ‘On Foot’

Will anyone of all the tourists passing by have noticed? I don’t think so. And that was what I loved about it. Silently adding something to reality (and thus altering it) and then taking it away again, without anyone noticing. And for those who are in the know: altering, for a moment or so, the way they look at the world. That’s my kind of performance. During forty minutes, yesterday evening, you could see six people walking up and down Saint-Hubertus Royal Arcade (Brussels), but each time they were walking by they did so in another way. Sometimes in a really normal fashion, sometimes in a slightly silly way, but never going for the John Cleese/Monty Python all too silly way (original sketch here). The nice thing about it? For a couple of minutes, before you were able to single out the six performers, everyone passing by was suspect. And after that: you started looking at the way all the tourists and other passers-by were walking. Suddenly everybody became a performer. On Foot (Red Hat), by British visual artist Theo Cowley, created for Performatik, the Brussels performance art biennial (ending today). I’m sure somebody will have had this idea before, but nevertheless: loved it.

‘Un-Scene II’ versus ‘Landschap’: a case of expecting too much… and nothing at all?

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When is a work of art a work of art? Who is to decide? The artist? The curator? The viewer? What makes the difference between an amateur and a professional artist? Skills? Or just the answer to that question: what’s your profession? It was a confusing one, the day on which I visited two exhibitions presenting Belgian talent. Landschap (landscape) is an exhibition for which Hans Op de Beeck has selected some 30 paintings from 1.000 paintings presented to him by 350 amateur painters. He shows them at De Warande (Turnhout; through August 19) in a gloomy, greyish setting, clearly bearing his signature. Un-Scene II, at Wiels (Brussels, through August 26), in an attempt to show what’s going on right now in the real Belgian art scene, presents the work of 12 artists. How come I was somewhat disappointed by Un-Scene and I was sometimes surprised by the work of those amateurs at De Warande? Just a case of expecting too much and expecting nothing at all? Was Op de Beeck’s scenography a clever magician’s trick? Did he make me see things that weren’t there? And did I fail to really see the potential of some of those works at Un-Scene? Didn’t I say so? A confusing day. My kind of day.

Spiders or extraterrestrials? Last day to visit Wangechi Mutu’s ‘Blackthrones’

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Going to Brussels for some serious summer sales shopping, today? Don’t forget to drop by at Gladstone Gallery (uptown, near Louiza Square) during your shopping spree, as it is the last day you can see Wangechi Mutu‘s collection of Blackthrones. It’s utterly eerie to walk in that forest of spindly black legs, and look up at those ornamented chairs. They really make you feel small. Those of you with arachnophobia will shiver, because the thrones do look like gigantic spiders in a way. Sci-fi fans will smile, because Mutu’s thrones look like extraterrestrials from War of the worlds as well. As you’ll remember Mutu, known for her collages, was Deutsche Bank’s artist of the year in 2010 and her exhibition My dirty little heaven was on show at Wiels (Brussels) the same year (review here).

 

Mademoiselle Nineteen giving you the finger: Charlotte Beaudry (‘Get drunk’) at Wiels

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Isn’t it nice, those piercing eyes of that young blond girl staring at you, when you enter the room? And then you notice those tiny silvery letters, forming the words Get drunk, on the wall to your left. Belgian painter Charlotte Beaudry didn’t want things to be too heavy, for her exhibition at Wiels (Brussels; through August 14). Get drunk, as in: I’m going to a bar and I’m just going to have fun. And yes, sometimes you don’t need more that just that: a few nice paintings to look at, that introduce you to the world of a painter you might not be that familiar with. Anyone walking into Beaudry’s exhibition will notice that she has a thing for adolescence and androgyny and that she likes to leave things (faces) concealed in these paintings that have a ‘pop’-quality and will remind you of the work of Robert Longo. Some might find this too shallow or decorative, but it certainly is an exhibition that will appeal to a younger audience, and it’s a nice counterbalance to the other exhibitions at Wiels (Sven Augustijnen and Nasreen Mohamedi). For more info, do visit Beaudry’s website as it has plenty of images.

Shopping for groceries and puzzled office workers: performances of a different kind (‘The other tradition’)

How to make the ordinary look extraordinary? Well: by asking all inhabitants of a village to do something completely normal at exactly the same time, for instance. Or what Katerina Šedá did for her project There’s nothing there. She asked  the 300 residents of  the small Czech village of Ponetovice to open their windows or shop for groceries at the same moment. Just one of the intriguing works of art at The other tradition (Wiels, Brussels, through May 1), an exhibition I should have pointed out a lot earlier, centering on performances of a different kind. 

Seagulls frozen in midair and other strange stories: David Claerbout’s mesmerizing ‘The Time That Remains’

Sometimes exhibitions should come with subscriptions. Instead of a ticket allowing you to visit the exhibition just once, you would get a booklet of tickets, allowing you to see it again and again. Take The Time That Remains, for instance, David Claerbout‘s extraordinary exhibition at Wiels (Brussels; through May 15). The Belgian (video) artist is an expert in stretching time. Either you will give up immediately, or you’ll become spellbound and you’ll find yourself spending more time than you’d expected to, watching his works of art. Some of his videos are thát mesmerizing that just one is enough for the day. Watch it, go home and come back another time to take in the next one. Subscriptions. Didn’t I mention it?

Believe the hype: don’t miss Francis Alÿs (Wiels)

Somewhere in a corner, slightly hidden, you’ll find a video of a dog, sleeping. Dreaming. Sometimes a foot is moving. And that’s all there is. Nothing more. That’s why I’m so fond of the work of Francis Alÿs. He always mixes a pinch of poetry, childlike fantasy or humor in, even though most of his videos have a political, philosophical of sociological undertone. Wiels (Brussels) is proud to be able to present A story of deception (through January 30), the first retrospective of this often overlooked (that is: in Belgium) Belgian artist, living in Mexico. The contemporary arts centre is even having a slightly bigger Alÿs-exhibition than the recent one at London’s Tate Gallery. Later on this exhibition will travel to New York’s MoMa. There’s too much to write about this artist, his videos and tiny paintings, but I’ll keep this post short. Believe the hype. Go and sit in all those rooms built especially for this exhibition. Take your time to watch those videos (if you decide to watch them all, it might take you two hours). Enjoy. Get blown away by those tornados at the end. And upon returning home, you can watch some of those videos again, on the artist’s website, here. (On November 7, Alÿs will also unveil a special exhibition at Maastricht’s Bonnefantenmuseum. Info here.)

Please step into my room: Wangechi Mutu’s gloomy ‘Dirty little heaven’

Too bad one often takes decisions based on (the wrong) details. A poster with an image that’s not really enticing. A name that doesn’t ring a bell. And thus I’d almost skipped Wangechi Mutu‘s exhibition at Wiels (Brussels; through September 12). Shame on me, because her Dirty little heaven really is an intriguing affair. I like it when walking into an exhibition means opening a door to a different and mysterious universe. In this case: a gloomy one, with richly detailed collages in warm colours with strange creatures, felt covered walls, liquid dripping from bottles, two videos and one bunny. ‘My work is a reclaiming of an imagined future’, Mutu says. More pics and info after the jump.

Do/Redo/Undo: 50 years of performance video at Wiels (Brussels)

For those of you wondering if I’m going to repeat last year’s adventurous feat, and if once again I will be reviewing every single performance during the Kunstenfestivaldesarts  (Brussels), the answer is no. Partly because this edition doesn’t look that intriguing to me, partly because there are too many other things going on as well. I cán advise you though to pay a visit to Do/Redo/Undo, the new Wiels exhibition (through June 6), presented in collaboration with the Kunstenfestivaldesarts. But beware: you’ll need to take some time out for this exhibition documenting the last 50 years in performance art captured on video. One the first floor at Wiels you’ll see rows and rows of televisions and headphones. So you’ll have to sit down and take your time to watch these videos by Matthew Barney, Dan Graham, Mike Kelly, Paul McCarthy and many others. Most of the videos are from the collection of Electronic Arts Intermix, and were presented recently at New York’s PS1 Contemporary Art Centre for the exhibition 45 years of performance video from EAI. Wiels is adding a couple of videos by Charlemagne Palestine to this.

Surprise! Danh Vo’s radical new version of Felix Gonzalez-Torres

Frankly? I hadn’t expected the changes to be thát drastic. If you’ve been to Wiels (Brussels) for Felix Gonzalez-Torres you are in for a surprise, when you return for Danh Vo‘s new version of the exhibition: it’s a complete new setup. And a very radical one. Gone is the big golden curtain. No more piles of candies. No more ‘carpet’ of silver wrapped candies on the top floor. Danh Vo brings in lots of grey skies with seagulls. It’s clearly an artist’s take on the work of another artist. Bold, consistent and minimal. But I fear that for a lot of people this will mean: taking it a step too far. There have been a couple of reviews of the exhibition calling it too cryptic for a general audience. Well, this version is even more so. You really need to have seen the first version to get this one. And I fear that a lot of people wanting to get to know the work of Gonzalez-Torres might be put off by this. One piece of advice for those of you desperately missing the candies: do go to -2. At the bottom of the stairs you’ll find a stack of them, nicely hidden. And if you’re wondering where all the lightbulbs hanging in the huge silo have gone… do read closely the golden plaques with info about the works on display. You’ll notice that they are now hanging somewhere in the village of Gesves (Impasse des Bouvreuils 3). For more on the first version, by curator Elena Filipovic, click here.

Candies, coughdrops and fortune cookies: Felix Gonzalez-Torres’s thought-provoking sweet shop at Wiels

I clearly remember picking up my first candy. It happened on the same day that I discovered Pipilotti Rist’s wonderful video Ever is over all (extract here). That was a good day, in New York, in December 2000. There was something mysterious and funny about that silver paper wrapping, and I’ve kept it ever since. Ten years later I’m still intrigued by the work of the late Felix Gonzalez-Torres (1957-1996). So I’m glad there’s a retrospective of his work at Wiels (Brussels). One that will travel to Basel and Frankfurt later on. Don’t miss it.

Blinded by the light: Ann Veronica Janssens’ ‘Serendipity’ at Wiels

 

Recurring dreams. I have one in which I keep on falling and falling. In a corner of Ann Veronica Janssens‘ Serendipity-exhibition at Wiels (Brussels) I suddenly found myself right in the middle of that nightmare. That’s why I love this Belgian artist: some of her work strongly meddles with your senses.