Diffraction of Destroyed Design

DIFFRACTION OF DESTROYED DESIGN
Adel Abdessemed / Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec / Dirk Braeckman / Bertrand Gadenne / Aglaia Konrad / Kelly Schacht / Florian Slotawa / Erik van Lieshout / Frederik Van Simaey
14.09.2013 > 17.11.2013

In preparation for the opening of the promising new building for the FRAC Nord -Pas de Calais_, Fonds Régional d’Art Contemporain, located in Dunkirk’s harbour district and realized by the architects _Lacaton & Vassal, Netwerk presents a selection of works on loan from the collection of the FRAC. Since the 1980’s this highly regarded international collection has introduced works within the disciplines of design, architecture and photography. In particular, the development of the design collection was an important reference for furthering the collection’s development. Netwerk took this collection as a starting point to create an exhibition that uses its own institutional perspective to set a dividing line between art and design. Some artists, whose work appears in the FRAC collection, have been invited to reflect on the theme of the exhibition-concept and present work that reveals new connections. Artists Kelly Schacht and Frederik Van Simaey created new works.

GALERIE
Adel Abdessemed (b. 1971, Constantine) is a politically committed artist who is not afraid to use raw and razor-sharp images in his video works and installations in order to portray the innate animal cruelty of mankind. He often utilises everyday objects and images within charged performances that can result in offensive situations. Shocking though his work may be, it is, nevertheless done with verve and sophistication. In Foot on the artist himself performs the destructive act of stomping flat a can of Coca-Cola. Strengthened by the heavy sound score that accompanies the image, the works hacks into our consciousness. The image is a deconstruction of the diseased “corporate identity” of contemporary society and a wake – up call for the inclusion of responsible engagement in art.

In a rough and confrontational manner, Erik van Lieshout (1968, Deurne) depicts sensitive subjects and the less attractive aspects of human behaviour within his oeuvre. The well-known installation, Respect, which was created for the Dutch Pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 2003, testifies to his ramshackle appearance of a committed artist who turns away from polished contemporary design. In the fight against smooth perfection, technical imperfections and cheap materials are used, both in the physical construction as in the video production that makes up part of the work. Complex in its spatial coherence of installation and social imaging, the petty mini Rietveld Pavilion is rich in levels of meaning. Here it is the act of the exhibition visitor – by entering the work – which catalyses sensitive awareness’s of reality and the constructed image of reality.

Lit Clos is one of the cult objects of the brothers Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec (b. 1971 & 1973, Quimper), who, for over a decade, have brought innovation and artistic talent together. Taking everyday life as their main source of inspiration, activities range from the designing of ordinary devices to furniture and architectural projects. Their style is referred to as intelligent, sober, poetic and includes a light humorous touch. This translates into minimal use of materials and a refined design stripped of all superfluous details. In their view furniture should contribute to defining a space. These characteristics are implied by the architectural to cut scale, Lit Clos. As an intimate, transparent alcove-shaped work it is a cross between a bed and a bedroom. It breathes free space on the boundary between object and installation.

In 2009, Dirk Braeckman (° 1958, Ghent) was invited by the FRAC to utilise his unique photographic vision in documenting the renovation of construction hall AP2, where the collection was find a new home. The “AP2” building, located in the old industrial area, is a monument of shipbuilding and is referred to in the region as, “the cathedral”. It is known as the main symbol of the lost industry in Dunkirk. Characteristic of the style of Dirk Braeckman is the way in which his black and white photos attempt to conceive the sculptural character of an architectural space through the abstraction of a detail within the building. Eventually the architectures Lacaton & Vassal decided to create a new construction parallel to the monumental building, rather than undergoing a radical transformation of the existing architecture.

GALERIE / VERDIEPING +1
With the intimacy-invoking scenography in Sculpture House, artist Aglaia Konrad (1960, Salzburg) also creates a different perception of space in the exhibition context with her specific relationship between both architecture and the aesthetics of the image. Aglaia Konrad approaches architecture as sculpture and explores how this can be visualized. The architectural space is cast as protagonist, while the camera, via her observation and movements, adds the narrative aspect. In an analytical-documentary manner and with a poetic-realistic framing, the artist reveals the symbiosis between form, function, materiality and aesthetics. A special interest in the spectrum of modernist architecture forms a background to her artistic practice. Sculpture House is a film about a cave-like residential home in Angleur (BE), designed by the Belgian architect Jacques Gillet in collaboration with the sculptor Felix Roulin, in the period 1967-68. The concrete building presents itself as an almost living sculpture through the organic synthesis of nature and architecture.

VERDIEPING +1
After an impressive series of presentations over the past five years, Kelly Schacht (b. 1983, Roeselare) is once again the guest in Netwerk. The composition of the exhibition put her unavoidably in a position of critical reflection on the relevance of collecting and preserving and, therefore a welcoming of mental and physical space; this emerging from both the perspective of her own art practice as well as that of the institute that has invited her to create and present work. Although Netwerk as an art centre has no collecting function – fed over the years by numerous artistic projects and collaborations with artists – it has in an organic way has “collected” a heterogeneous accumulation of art. Kelly Schacht transforms the permanent “museum” box, created by Netwerk, where artworks from its collection can be displayed in synergy with temporary exhibitions, into an unruly pliable space. The work unfolds as a sculptural folio for dialogue and opens up the way to new possibilities: how a space can be transformed into an image, how can a conceptual framework be displayed in a sculptural form, and how pliable and interpretable can a museum space can be…

PAKHUIS +2
The work of the German conceptual artist Florian Slotawa (1972, Rosenheim) consists mainly of photographs and sculptures that are the end result of a sophisticated scenario that revolves around the collection and organization of everyday objects. By the regrouping and the de-contextualisation of existing objects and changing contexts, he examines the differences between art objects and pedestrian objects, and those between the secular, private space and the symbolic, museum space. Slotawa pays great attention to formal criteria such as colour, framing and composition. KS.028 is an assemblage of found objects that in and of themselves are not related to each other. Through the minimal intervention of the artist and its presentation in the specialised area of the exhibition space, a carefully constructed meaningful image arises that articulates the age-old question “what is art”?

Frederik Van Simaey (° 1979, Kortrijk) enters into dialogue with the work of Slotawa and applies for him a characteristic formula: flipping familiar objects and space inside out so that a new coherence with other layers of meaning can arise. A collection of mirrors presented in reverse renders them stripped of their functional reflectivity while gaining a painterly status. This creates a shift in the balance of power of the form within the object itself. The mirror’s framing takes the upper hand against the reflective surface, reducing the mirrors to a kind of painting palettes. Thus the relationship between the object and the viewer is tilted by the act of the artist. One does not see a picture of them self in the space but instead, an image constructed by a linear collection of art.

Le Rat is an animated work of French photographer and video artist Bertrand Gadenne (° 1951, Proverville). A white rat moves, disappears and continuously reappears in a showcase-like space. The act is nervously repetitive. The image itself may not be what makes the work interesting, but rather, the way in which the image is integrated within the exhibition. Gadenne poses the ambiguity of images in question, plays with the boundaries of illusion and perception and suggests the disappearance of the duality between what is observed and the observer. In a playful way he opens up a dialogue about complex aesthetic considerations.