To Recover

Artist list

Simon Cottrell, Karl Fritsch, Gésine Hackenberg, Karin Johansson, Jiro Kamata, Sari Liimatta, Stefano Marchetti, Ted Noten, Noon Passama, Annelies Planteydt, Tore Svensson, Lisa Walker, Manon van Kouswijk

To revisit, remake, salvage, reinterpret, adapt, convert, converse, rethink…
 
Why have we asked some of the artists we work with as gallery owners to reinterpret one of their works? We could say it’s because we’re interested in talking about time. And by “revisiting” we mean discussing the notion of time. But in what way? That’s the question.
Time passes, it is made, interpreted, felt and suffered, it escapes, drifts away, becomes trapped or stretched, sometimes it is intelligently ignored and, why not, it is exercised. Reinterpreting a work, a fiction or precis is a way of addressing time, a way of exploring a landscape in order to try and understand it. And we thought this exercise would provide an interesting opportunity to discuss time.


Revisiting in order to reflect... an exercise for the artist.
 
Are there any changes in these artists’ works? Should there be? Is time involved? Without a shadow of a doubt, the answer is yes. But that barely scrapes the surface of what we want to know.
We’re more likely to find out what we want to know if the work enables us to answer questions such as: What kind of time is involved? Is there any usefulness? Is there any spirituality? Are there any aesthetics? Is there any abstraction? Is there any progress?
The exhibition is also designed to be understood through an analysis of the different types of answers provided by the works as a whole. As you will see, there are answers that simplify, offering minor changes, non-answers, coherent answers (if you have prior knowledge of the artist’s trajectory), inspired answers, uninventive answers... As we have said, evaluating the “revisits” as a whole provides additional knowledge.
When it comes down to it, what we most value is the sensation we observe and feel when the artist takes some distance and moves away from the centre stage in an attempt to provide an answer. As observers, we believe this circumstance helps to achieve universality and thus provide an intellectual satisfaction, that of communicating and objectifying the creation to the full in order to express and play with a more authentic reality.


Revisiting in order to look afresh... the viewer’s exercise.
 
We switch from observation to understanding, and vice versa. We observe in order to find differences between similar things and we understand when we find similarities between different things. Accustomed as we are today to viewing several pieces in a highly random fashion, pausing to stop in order to take a fresh look at a work “inaugurated” some time ago is another exercise we wish to propose. This exercise may help us assimilate better in this era of accumulation and, on occasions, superficiality. There can be no doubt that the way in which a work attracts and engages us is based on the knowledge we may have of it.
Knowledge without criticism is an indication of the end of everything. Yet, on the other hand, what can be said of criticism without knowledge? Are we capable of enjoying what these workers of art offer us? Will we be capable of evaluating what they show us? Can we offer knowledge-based criticism? Frankly, we find there is a lack of humility on the part of the viewer. And we’re all viewers.
Let’s enjoy this opportunity.


Opening : 7 October from 19 h.
Hourly: Monday to Friday / 11 -14 and 16-19 h.