M HKA Ensembles

The terms ‘radical’ and "radicalism" have long had positive connotations. They come from the Latin word ‘radix’, root. Progressive groups were proud to be ‘radical’ because they advocated profound changes. It was to eradicate the old structures and to deeply root and anchor the new ones so that they could be solid. More generally, and especially in the world of art, radicalism is understood as a search for the essential.

Some social issues are complex and their solution does not depend on a single authority. In its report, the Special Commission of the Senate on Radicalisation lists a series of ‘hot spots’ and suggests ways of thinking to the authorities of the country.

When architect René Heyvaert (°1929 - †1984) decided to become an artist, he did so to get closer to the human experience. His work confronts the intense material experience with the ruthless mathematical mechanisms of the human mind. This cross made of bread can thus be deciphered as follows: edible substance versus mathematics.

Tapta (°1926- †1997) came to Belgium at the age of 18 as a political refugee, after the liberation of Warsaw. At the beginning of the nineties, she chose neoprene, a synthetic impenetrable rubber, both solid and flexible. A square cut out in several articulated parts is spread on the ground. Unlike a sculpture sometimes considered as ‘masculine’, which claims vertical climbing, this work is deployed horizontally, as if docked to the ground.

In this video, Yang Zhenzong (°1968, lives in Shanghai) films people of different ages and professions in front of the camera and asks them to say "I'm going to die" in their own language. These short sequences confront the viewer with existential questions. The work inspires a reflection on pretence and sincerity, fiction and reality, the transient and eternity.

Hide this description