Wouter Verhoeven. The Eternal Life, 2007.
Oliver Lutz. Der Wanderer, 2007.
Geert Goiris. E313, 1999. Private collection Rotterdam. Courtesy Gallery Art Concept Paris.
Joel Sternfeld. Lovers parking beneath a pyramidal tomb of the second century A.D., Via Appia Antica, Rome (November 1990), 1990-2006. Courtesy of the artist and Luhring Augustine, New York. |
|
SMAK
Stedelijk Museum
voor Actuele Kunst
Citadelpark
+ 32 9 221 17 03
Ghent
Beyond the Picturesque
April 4-August 28, 2009
The concept of "the picturesque" originated in the 18th century and was closely linked from the very start to that of the English landscape garden, which traded in the strict geometry of the French garden for a carefully recreated and staged image of nature.
The term "picturesque" refers to a certain kind of landscape that was considered suitable as a subject for a painting, as well as to a part of reality that could be looked upon as if it were a painting. It is remarkable that a lot of contemporary artists are fascinated by the hybrid landscape in which the differences between centre and periphery, between city and countryside and between nature and culture are no longer clearly defined.
Furthermore the present natural landscape is to a large extent and on a global scale colonized and domesticated by means of a worldwide spread of images in the form of works of art and all kinds of media images of landscapes in film, television, tourism, etc.
The exhibition in the S.M.A.K. wants to investigate how the concept of "the picturesque" can still (or again) be applied to artistic interpretations of the present landscape. Beyond the Picturesque presents works of Marcel Berlanger (BE), Marc De Blieck (BE), Damien De Lepeleire (BE), Alexis Destoop (BE), Robert Devriendt (BE), Geert Goiris (BE), Ellen Harvey (GB), Sylvia Henrich (DE), Axel Hütte (DE), Jan Kempenaers (BE), Jussi Kivi (FI), Mark Klett (US), Oliver Lutz (US), Rindfleisch/Rapedius (DE), Katrin Sigurdardottir (IS), Joel Sternfeld (US), Monica Studer / Christoph van den Berg (CH), Richard Sympson (IT), John Timberlake (GB), Mungo Thomson (US), Mario Garcia Torres (MX), Wouter Verhoeven (NL) and Christian Vetter (CH).
Beyond the Picturesque is curated by Steven Jacobs & Frank Maes.
Dario Pichierri & Marco Trinca Colonel. Garland of Flowers, 2008.
Jussi Kivi. Felsenlandschaft im Elbsteingebirge seen above the clouds, 2003.
Monica Studer / Christoph van den Berg, Wasserfall, 2002. © Monica Studer / Christoph van den Berg, courtesy Nicolas Krupp Gallery, Basel. |
