Magical Realism
Magical Realism follows The Absent Museum (2017) and Risquons-tout (2020) in a series of ambitious exhibitions at WIELS, inviting contemporary artists whose views on ecological and climate issues challenge the norms of current aesthetics and discourse.
Courtesy of the artist © La Pensée Férale, Daniel Steegmann Mangrané
What emerges from the alliance between magical formulas and factual prognoses, between a scientific mode of observation and mythical narratives? The title of the exhibition is borrowed from the artistic and literary movement of magical realism, which was characterised by its combination of a realistic narrative with images touching upon so-called ‘irrational’ worlds, magic, the dreamlike and myth. Through this porosity, different relations with reality converge and co-exist in f(r)iction.
In a context where the mechanisms of capitalism enhance the extractive exploitation of resources, overproduction and soil depletion, Magical Realism brings together artists and thinkers whose work rethinks our ways of inhabiting and conceiving of the universe. At the confluence of analytic and speculative tools, the exhibition invites us to consider the metabolic links that run through the biosphere — from mineral matter to bacterial fantasy, from plant life to technological and synthetic devices.
Magical Realism reflects on an ecology that addresses both the aesthetic implications of our relationship with ‘nature’ at a tipping point, as well as the social, economic and scientific implications of exploring and shifting our conceptions of the planet.
Participating artists: Ade Darmawan, Adrián Villar Rojas, Anne Marie Maes, Bianca Baldi, Cecilia Vicuña, Daniel Steegmann Mangrané, Edith Dekyndt, Elizabeth A. Povinelli, Gaëlle Choisne, Joan Jonas, Jota Mombaça, Jumana Manna, Minia Biabiany, Mountaincutters, Otobong Nkanga, Pauline Julier, Precious Okoyomon, Saodat Ismailova, Suzanne Husky, Suzanne Jackson, amongst others.
Curators: Sofia Dati, Helena Kritis, Dirk Snauwaert