From 17 July, artist Egon Van Herreweghe presents The Menu at Footnote Gallery in Ghent. For this exhibition, he has developed an entirely new series of sculptures, created specifically for the gallery and its surroundings.
A menu sets expectations about what lies ahead. So does an awning. Before you even enter a building, it gives the façade a face and suggests the kind of experience waiting behind it. This idea forms the starting point for The Menu.
The gallery is located on Sint-Salvatorstraat, a street known for its many Turkish restaurants. Striking façades, colorful awnings, and illuminated signs define the streetscape. They capture attention, create expectations, and give each establishment its own distinct identity.
An awning is an invitation. Before you step inside a building, it already tells you something about what you expect to find. I wanted to detach that moment of anticipation from the architecture and make it visible as sculpture.
Although the gallery itself has no awning, that absence became the starting point for the exhibition. Van Herreweghe has brought four sculptural awnings into the exhibition space. Removed from their original function, they become objects that feel both familiar and strange. They offer no shelter, yet invite visitors to come closer.
The sculptures reveal how seemingly simple architectural elements guide our perception and shape the way we experience a place. In a street where restaurant façades evoke atmosphere and cultural identity, the awnings become carriers of expectation and recognition.
In his practice, Egon Van Herreweghe draws on everyday objects and the visual language of shops, brands, and commercial environments. By having these objects meticulously fabricated and placing them in a new context, he shifts their meaning. His work invites viewers to reconsider ideas of authenticity, value, and authorship.
