Tag Archives: WIELS Contemporary Art Centre

Risquons-tout (“let’s risk everything”) exhibition at WIELS

Risquons-tout is an ambitious thematic group exhibition at the Wiels Museum in which 38 contemporary artists explore risk, the unpredictable while using unexplored alternative rules. Much of it revolves around transgressions and the changes that digital culture and artificial intelligence bring in our consciousness and imagination.

Risquons-Tout | WIELS Contemporary Art Centre
“Worms everywhere” by Nora Turato
Risquons-Tout | WIELS Contemporary Art Centre

“Dead Fox” by Lydia Ourahmane

Risquons-Tout | WIELS Contemporary Art Centre
“The Blind Leading the Blind #48” by Peter Buggenhout
Risquons-Tout | WIELS Contemporary Art Centre
“A Marvellous Entanglement” by Isaac Julien
Risquons-Tout | WIELS Contemporary Art Centre
“Selfie” by Manuel Graf
Risquons-Tout | WIELS Contemporary Art Centre
“Forced Love” by Irène Kanga
Risquons-Tout | WIELS Contemporary Art Centre

“Forced Love” by Irène Kanga

Risquons-Tout | WIELS Contemporary Art Centre
“Forced Love” by Irène Kanga
Risquons-Tout | WIELS Contemporary Art Centre
During the 2016 labor day parade in Manila, protestors called for higher wages and the end to American Imperialism in their country. They also condemned the policies of president Benigno Aquino III and burned an grotesque effigy depicting him as a butcher.
Risquons-Tout | WIELS Contemporary Art Centre
Ogun, Ogoun, ou Ogou, ou Gou, mon Dragon” by Julien Creuzet
Risquons-Tout | WIELS Contemporary Art Centre
Homage to Muzharul Islam, pioneer of modern architecture by artist Shezad Dawood
Risquons-Tout | WIELS Contemporary Art Centre
Close-up on multi-medium artwork by UK-based Shezad Dawood
Risquons-Tout | WIELS Contemporary Art Centre
The Mother of David & Goliath” by  Lebanese artist Mounira Al Solh
Risquons-Tout | WIELS Contemporary Art Centre
 “SICK SAD WORLD” by Tarek Lakhrissi
Risquons-Tout | WIELS Contemporary Art Centre

Wonders of the Moon – A Thousand Years of Sleepwalking” by Iranian artist Sina Seifee

Risquons-Tout | WIELS Contemporary Art Centre
2nd hand car recycling routes to sub-Saharan Africa installation by artists Lydia Ourahmane and Alex Ayed
Risquons-Tout | WIELS Contemporary Art Centre
The Mother of David & Goliath” by  Lebanese artist Mounira Al Solh
Risquons-Tout | WIELS Contemporary Art Centre

Untitled work on rope focus by artist and sculptor Bernd Lohaus

Risquons-Tout | WIELS Contemporary Art Centre
Installation view by Melike Kara
Risquons-Tout | WIELS Contemporary Art Centre
“Sanjabi (Tribe)” by Melike Kara
Risquons-Tout | WIELS Contemporary Art Centre
“My beloved wild valley” Close-up on wallpaper by Melike Kara
Risquons-Tout | WIELS Contemporary Art Centre
The Mother of David & Goliath” set by Lebanese artist Mounira Al Solh
Risquons-Tout | WIELS Contemporary Art Centre

in 2016 street artist Chris Devins launched a GoFundMe page to finance a mural on the facade of the building where Michelle Obama grew up. After raising $12 000, he unveiled a portrait of the first lady as an Egyptian Queen.

Risquons-Tout | WIELS Contemporary Art Centre
catwalk-like installation created from a discarded gym floor by artist Suchan Kinoshita
Risquons-Tout | WIELS Contemporary Art Centre
False poster by Evelyn Taocheng Wang
Risquons-Tout | WIELS Contemporary Art Centre
“Blue Grid Test” by UK artist and curator Lubaina Himid
Risquons-Tout | WIELS Contemporary Art Centre
“Blue Grid Test” by UK artist and curator Lubaina Himid
Risquons-Tout | WIELS Contemporary Art Centre
Close-up on “Blue Grid Test” by UK artist and curator Lubaina Himid
Risquons-Tout | WIELS Contemporary Art Centre
The Mother of David & Goliath” set by  Lebanese artist Mounira Al Solh
Risquons-Tout | WIELS Contemporary Art Centre
Ogun, Ogoun, ou Ogou, ou Gou, mon Dragon” by Julien Creuzet
Risquons-Tout | WIELS Contemporary Art Centre
Window
Risquons-Tout | WIELS Contemporary Art Centre
The Mother of David & Goliath” set by  Lebanese artist Mounira Al Solh

Monsoon Melody by Thao Nguyen Phan

Born in Vietnam, Thao Nguyen Phan is a multimedia artist who draws inspiration from the rich and tumultuous history of her country of origin. Monsoon Melody is an exhibition that shows three of her most recent projects: Tropical Siesta (2017), Mute Grain (2019) and Becoming Alluvium (2019) which are video installations accompanied by paintings and drawings. The inspiration is taken from the narrative of Vietnam and in particular its turbulent history during the French and Japanese occupation as well as the repression under the early era of communism. the paintings that accompany the films are using traditional techniques such as lacquer painting, silk painting or watercolor in a critical and contemporary way.

Dream of March and August

“Monsoon Melody” by Thao Nguyen Phan

This series of silk paintings accompanies the film ‘Mute Grain’, made by the artist in 2019. The film and the accompanying paintings take as their starting point a 1945 famine that took place in Vietnam and is believed to have caused the death of over 2 million people.

“Monsoon Melody” by Thao Nguyen Phan

‘Dream of March and August’, takes its name from the two protagonists of the film ‘Mute Grain’, a brother and a sister who are separated by the death of the sister and they exist in parallel worlds, one living, one dead and they are always searching for one another.

“Monsoon Melody” by Thao Nguyen Phan

These beautiful dreamlike paintings are hung in couplets as if brother and sister are always side by side, supporting one another while being divided.

“Monsoon Melody” by Thao Nguyen Phan

There are some 34 silk paintings in this series and they are suspended in pairs, they are spot lit, the light travels through them, they have a certain kind of votive or devotional quality.

“Monsoon Melody” by Thao Nguyen Phan

They are very slow somehow in their pacing, they are extremely beautiful, they are almost naïve, there is almost a kind of sentimentality to the imagery, but as always in Thao’s work it is undercut by a hint of violence, by certain jarring notes that make us question what story it is she’s trying to tell.

“Monsoon Melody” by Thao Nguyen Phan

There’s often these strange juxtapositions of very classical or fairylike imagery with certain objects that for the artist are kind of symbols of the modernization of Vietnam, for example a conveyor belt or an escalator, these things that are kind of typical of the shopping center or the airport, these moments of transition.

“Monsoon Melody” by Thao Nguyen Phan
“Monsoon Melody” by Thao Nguyen Phan
“Monsoon Melody” by Thao Nguyen Phan

Voyages de Rhodes

In the series titled ‘Voyages de Rhodes’, Thao-Nguyên Phan takes a book written by French Jesuit missionary Alexandre de Rhodes (1591–1660) which describes his travel experiences and observations, including in the region of present-day Vietnam, during the seventeenth century as her canvas.

“Monsoon Melody” by Thao Nguyen Phan

Phan’s visual interpretation his stories that mixes her own paintings, which she places on particular pages of this book, that she has carefully removed and individually framed.

“Monsoon Melody” by Thao Nguyen Phan

Close to a hundred pages are framed perpendicular to the wall, as if the book itself is daring to transform its own significance.

“Monsoon Melody” by Thao Nguyen Phan

Phan’s interventions in the book interweave different narratives that sit between realism and fantasy.

“Monsoon Melody” by Thao Nguyen Phan

Reflecting upon the problematic communist agrarian reforms in post-war Vietnam that led to the redistribution of land and collective farming.

“Monsoon Melody” by Thao Nguyen Phan
“Monsoon Melody” by Thao Nguyen Phan
Human Jumping by by Thao Nguyen Phan
“Monsoon Melody” by Thao Nguyen Phan


Today Is The First Day Exhibit by Wolfgang Tillmans

The WIELS Contemporary art center has reopened its doors after a few months under lock-down so that the public could have one last chance to see the current exhibits as they have not been extended past their initially planned of late August deadline.

Wolfgang Tillmans: Today Is The First Day | WIELS Contemporary Art Centre

After a career that spawned over two decades Wolfgang Tillmans’: Today Is The First Day was the 1st ever time us Belgian fans got a chance to see his work in one of our museums. His previous exhibits were shown in famous institutions such as the Tate Modern in 2017 and is moving next to the MoMA in 2021.

Wolfgang Tillmans: Today Is The First Day | WIELS Contemporary Art Centre

Wolfgang Tillmans is an artist who has pushed the boundaries of photography and image creation. He first got noticed in the early ’90’s for pictures of his entourage and the techno music scene. His photos got picked up in a few urban culture magazines like i-D and Spex that documented alternative lifestyles linked to the techno and LGBTQI communities. In 2000, Wolfgang Tillmans was the first photographer to win the Turner Prize.

If you missed this interesting exhibition at the Wiels or are interested to get to know his work, above and below are some of the pictures I took during the exhibit.

Wolfgang Tillmans: Today Is The First Day | WIELS Contemporary Art Centre

Wolfgang Tillmans: Today Is The First Day | WIELS Contemporary Art Centre
Wolfgang Tillmans: Today Is The First Day | WIELS Contemporary Art Centre
Wolfgang Tillmans: Today Is The First Day | WIELS Contemporary Art Centre
Wolfgang Tillmans: Today Is The First Day | WIELS Contemporary Art Centre
Wolfgang Tillmans: Today Is The First Day | WIELS Contemporary Art Centre
Wolfgang Tillmans: Today Is The First Day | WIELS Contemporary Art Centre Wolfgang Tillmans: Today Is The First Day | WIELS Contemporary Art Centre
Wolfgang Tillmans: Today Is The First Day | WIELS Contemporary Art Centre
Wolfgang Tillmans: Today Is The First Day | WIELS Contemporary Art Centre
Wolfgang Tillmans: Today Is The First Day | WIELS Contemporary Art Centre
Wolfgang Tillmans: Today Is The First Day | WIELS Contemporary Art Centre