Artists: Ellen Altfest, Kasper Bosmans, Vija Celmins, Edith Dekyndt, Laurent Dupont, Isa Genzken, Gabriel Hartley, Derek Jarman, Behrang Karimi, Stanislava Kovalcikova, Bracha L. Ettinger, Jannis Marwitz, Delcy Morelos, Dala Nasser, Loïc Raguenes, Lin May Saeed, Selma Selman, Vivian Suter, Kazuna Taguchi, Anne Bonnet, Hippolyte Daeye, Lili Dujourie, Esteban Fekete, Isa Genzken, Bernd Lohaus, Constant Permeke, Anna Staritsky, Niele Toroni, Edgar Tytgat, René Magritte, Gerhard Richter, Mitja Tušek
Exhibition title: Stories from the Ground
Curated by: Martin Germann
Venue: Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens, Deurle, Belgium
Date: June 30 – October 6, 2024
Photography: images copyright and courtesy of the artists and Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens
Note: Exhibition booklet is available here
Below our feet, the Eurasian Plate is slowly shifting, while postcolonial and environmental challenges are forcing us to rethink notions of identity, class, and hierarchy.
The artists in Stories from the Ground address the ecological, material, social, symbolic, and spiritual dimensions of painting, telling stories about today’s globalized world.
Some artists trace new ideas of the sublime in their collaboration with dirt, earth, and soil; other artists redefine the concept of “ground” through painterly protocols. In contrast, others explore adjacent media ecologies of printing or photography.
In each of their maverick practices, painting takes a prominent place: As a productive refusal, as a tool to open up new uncommon perspectives, and as a language to tell stories. These shared narratives provide sparks from which future planetary commonalities can emerge so that the universal and personal can reconcile as the symbolic and the real.
By using a selection of modernist works from the collection and long-term installations in and around the museum as a starting point, new perspectives are also provided on local art historical narratives
About the Biennial of Painting
In three exhibitions, Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens, Roger Raveel Museum and the Museum of Deinze and the Leie Region engage their historical collections with the works of contemporary artists. Through current perspectives, they aim to explore the art of painting over the past hundred years. The unique setting of the Leie Region plays a pivotal role in the background, inspiring generations of artists.
