Group Show
Rehabilitation
Three years after the inauguration of the renovated brewery which now hosts Wiels, this exhibition thematizes its new function as a centre for contemporary art in a building that was conceived for a totally different function.
With : Leonor Antunes, Alexandra Leykauf, David Maljkovic, Manfred Pernice, Tobias Putrih, Falke Pisano, Pia Rönicke, Oscar Tuazon, Armando Andrade Tudela, Up (Koenraad Dedobbeleer, Kris Kimpe)
The title of the exhibition can be understood in different ways: as the rehabilitation of the unrecognized architect Adrien Blomme, of Modernism in general or of a building which, after twenty years of decay, was saved, almost clinically, from its downward spiral of neglect and decrepitude.
Ten artists who are inspired by the ideas, forms and aspirations of early radical Modernism were asked to respond to the phenomenon of rehabilitation or refurbishment of old [modernist?] buildings. As a result, while not necessarily site-specific to the Blomme building or its history, the artists nevertheless reacted to the architecture of Wiels, its spaces and symbols with a project in line with their artistic practice. The exhibition thus provides an overview of a generation of young artists interest and fascination with the production processes of forms and ideas, as well as with the social function of art through direct or indirect references to icons of modernist architecture and design which they integrate in their work.
