ART > 2021 - 2022 >
SOUS LES PAVÉS, LA PLAGE! MULIER MULIER GALLERY, KNOKKE (BE)
“Trophy”
coiled, carved and slab ceramic underglazes and clear coat on low-fired
red, cream, and black earthenware clay
79.5cm (H) x 50cm (W) x 50cm (D)
or 2ft 7-3/8in (H) x 1ft 7-5/8in (W) x 1ft 7-5/8in (D)
2022
exhibition views (instagram: @muliermuliergallery)
(left to right):
"Composition trouvé," 2005, Guillaume Bijl; "Kalpetran revisited," 2002, Vaast Colson; "Fly, fly," 2016, Ursula Ott; "Orange," edition of 3, 2017, D.D. Trans; and "Trophy," 2022, Tramaine de Senna
(left to right):
"Fly, fly," 2016, Ursula Ott; "Orange," edition of 3, D.D. Trans; "Trophy," 2022, Tramaine de Senna; "Between canyons and deserts IX," 2022, Joke Hanson; "Kalpetran revisited," 2022, Vaast Colson; "Stella Marina" and "Perla," 2021, Nuvola Camera; "Untitled," 2022, Bradley Kronz; and "Walk in the park," 2021, Marc Vanderleenen
"Not needed now," 2021, Art and Language
"Jack Rabbit," 2014, Jack Early
(left to right):
"Calamiteiten oproepsysteem," 2022, Vaast Colson; "Primavera" and "Estate," 2019, Jos de Gruyter and Harald Thys; "Kempinski Curtain III," 2021, Guy Van Bossche; "Untitled" and "Untitled," 2022, Bradley Kronz; "Blue element with lantern model," 2021, Jos de Gruyter and Harald Thys; "2011-11-9" and "2022-02-27," 2021, Brecht Koelman;
and "Untitled," 2022, Bradley Kronz
(left to right):
"2011-11-9" and "2022-02-27," 2021, Brecht Koelman; "Untitled," 2022, Bradley Kronz; "Not that is is needed now (Archive) I," 2015, Art and Language; and "Animation Drawings," 1960s, Michel Mulier
(left to right):
"Composition trouvé," 2005, Guillaume Bijl and "Teenage," 2017, D.D. Trans
"Sous les pavés, la plage!"
"Nostalgia Canaglia"
Nostalgia as Hobsbawn so eloquently put is "... a twilight zone between history and memory; between the past as a generalized record which is open to relatively dispassionate inspection and the past as a remembered part of, or background to, one's own life." It is in this zone that Sous les pavés, la plage tries to operate. Throughout history there have been multiple tentatives to represent it. For example by Emma Willard in "Picture of Nations," where one can observe history's eerie human anatomical layout.
Nostalgia is born not as a literary term but as a medical term, coined by a Swiss doctor in the 16th century. It referred to the feverish, inaccurate, and often artificial ideas one had of the past. It spread to such an extent that it was branded a disease and its recommended treatment methods were leeches, opium, and fasting. Approaching nostalgia as a disease teh exhibition tries to group origins, symptoms and cures. Art as remedy against a sick way of remembering.
A revolution means an uprising as well as a completed cycle. It indicates a crucial part of the cycle and at the same time the cycle itself. Working around the exhibition's title, Vaast Colson decided to cover one of the gallery's floors with carpet depicting the classical Flemish street stone called "kei."
The action during with Colson cuts out the "keien" from the carpet represents the action of using streets stones during a revolution, as well as the medieval "keisnijding" (translated freely it means "the removing of the cobblestone"), depicted by Jheronimus Bosch [which was a] medieval medical practice believed to cure naivety by cutting out a "kei" out of the person's forehead.
The second intervention, "Calamiteiten oproepsysteem" is the orange safety thread visible throughout the gallery, usually used in bathrooms for the differently abled, is there to help us remind at any point in time that history and memory are non-canonical.
Sous les pavés, la plage
Group show 08/06 - 20/06/22
Intervention by Vaast Colson
Curated by Wladylsaw Barion
Mulier Mulier Gallery
Founded in 1988 by Erik Mulier and Luc Mulier
De Wielingen 14, 8300 Knokke-Zoute
+32 (0) 475 447 075
Text: Wladyslaw Barion, Tamara Beheydt
Photographs: David Samyn
Graphic design: Stella Schöning
