Art enlightened times (Antwerp)
Sharon Lockhart at Middelheim Castle
‘The future must always be better’ is written in neon letters to read on the castle in Middelheim Park. With this sculpture, which will remain visible to passers-by until March 30, the sculpture park brings light into the dark winter months.
The Middelheim Museum is the second location to display Sharon Lockhart’s artwork, after the Kestner Gesellschaft in Hanover, which commissioned the Los Angeles multimedia artist. During the corona lockdown at the beginning of 2021, the German art institution wanted to enter into a dialogue with the public on its facade. Lockhart came up with a luminous phrase, which can be read as a prophecy, a wish, and a call to action.
“We will be bought in the future that there is more to the future for humanity. In this world, the mere idea of a common future is a life-affirming act. Therefore, this work is both a proposal and a question,” Lockhart’s hopeful creation.
www.middelheimmuseum.be
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Rémy Zaugg in deSingel
Honor where credit is due, the mother of all light sculptures in Antwerp can be admired in the courtyard of deSingel. Since 2005, a poetic text by Rémy Zaugg has been illuminated against a facade. The well-known Swiss artist coined the phrase ‘But I the world I see you’ in 2000 as a contribution to the international exhibition ‘Orbis Terrarum’ in the Plantin Moretus Museum. The text was then projected life-size on the view of the tunnel building on the Sint Jansvliet. In 2005, just before his death, the artist gave the sculpture on permanent loan to deSingel, where it still calls on visitors to look at the world in an open-minded way.
www.desingel.be
Filip Collin at Zeit
Eighteen months ago, the Antwerp artist Filip Collin opened the new Zeit gallery at 16 Stanleystraat. He designed a permanent light installation for the entrance hall. For his new exhibition ‘Everything is illuminated’, he worked even more intensively with light. Even through the display case outside, visitors are seduced by floating light objects, which he presents as an art edition. He designed a fairytale environment with neon for the garden house. Collin’s work is shown in conjunction with other artists who complete their base of color and light.
www.zeitart.space
Pascal Petrus at The Studio
Since 2016, a fresh green ellipse has welcomed young people on the facade of De Studio. The light sculpture ‘Interview’ is by the Antwerp Dutchman Pascal Petrus, who presented his design as part of the Antwerp Art Weekend. The facade of De Studio is a protected city view, but the artwork floats in a frame in front of the building. “We were enthusiastic from the first design,” says program maker Amelie Aernoudts. “It makes the static, hermetic, perhaps somewhat frightening facade of the former grand hotel and theater school younger and more inviting. It is a beacon from the Mechelseplein.”
www.destudio.com
Elias Derboven on Dam Square
One of the oldest light sculptures in the city is located in a place where you would not expect it. Graphic artist and photographer Elia Derboven in 2014 on the corner of Bredastraat and Driesnellenstraat on Dam Square. The project came about as a collaboration between the neighbourhood, the district, Community Development and the Middelheim Museum. Derboven graphically elaborated the text ‘A baobab sticks its roots in the air and claws at a turaco in free flight’ by community builder Wilfried Defillet as a bird, which was mentioned high on a bare wall.
www.middelheimmuseum.be
Joris Van de Moortel in the Leienpaleis
Normally, the Leienpaleis opposite the National Bank had already opened its doors as Antwerp’s new cultural hotspot. Stricter corona measures decided otherwise. Light will soon also have an important function in the former banker’s residence. Antwerp artist Joris Van de Moortel, for example, hung an intriguing light sculpture in the bar at the request of curator Koen Van den Broek. Not only light, but also running water creates enthusiasm in this futuristic object that found an unexpected place in a nineteenth-century setting.
www.leienpaleis.be