Nature Morte / Nature Vivante 24.11.2019 - 08.03.2020
From the 17th century onwards, the French expression nature morte (literally ‘dead nature’) has been used to refer to still life, the field of painting that represented nature – flowers, fruit, fish, game, or various objects of use – through symbolic and allegorical meanings that explicitly referred to its fragility and ephemerality, and indirectly also to the vanity of human life.
Today, in the dark perspective in which we live, where the unjustified action of man is contributing to the impermanence of nature – or even to its annihilation – the term nature morte takes on even greater relevance.
The works on display at CID au Grand-Hornu question, provoke or encourage those mechanisms that nature uses to support its transformation, aggregation, decomposition and then regeneration, creating a collection of experimental works that highlights the ambiguous and contradictory relationship between man and nature.
Nature Morte / Nature Vivante curated by Ralph Collier, Françoise Foulon & Veerle Wenes with Alexi Williams Wynn, Andrea Branzi, Ani Liu, Anne Ausloos, Ariel Schlesinger, Arvid & Marie, Babs Decruyenaere, Bas Smets & Wannes Peremans, Benjamin Verdonck, Diana Scherer, Eline Willemarck, Elissa Lacoste, Erez Nevi Pana, Erine Wyckmans, Formafantasma, Gabriel Rico, Hilde De Decker, Hongjie Yang, Jean-Philippe Tromme, Lieve Van Stappen, Lilla Tabasso, Lois Weinberger, Maarten Van den Eynde, Marlène Huissoud, Michel Blazy, Nel Verbeke, Nurit Bar-Shai, Octave Vandeweghe, Roland Persson, Scholten & Baijings , Studio Klarenbeek & Dros et Atelier Luma Arles, Studio Nienke Hoogvliet, Studio Wieki Somers, Tania De Bruycker, Tony Matelli, Various Artists, Vincent Egon Verschueren, Xandra Van Der Eijk
CID - Centre d'innovation et de design au Grand-Hornu
Rue Sainte-Louise, 82
7301 Hornu - Belgique
Pictures by Ligia Poplawska