M HKA Ensembles

Museum Plantin Moretus, Antwerpen

18 May 2011 - 28 August 2011

From May 18th to August 28, 2011, the print room of the Plantin-Moretus museum grants the public a look into the thought and work processes of Anne-Mie Van Kerckhoven in the presentation “Insights and Vistas”. The contemporary artist from Antwerp designed the light walls in the promenade of the MAS - Museum aan de Stroom. For this “contemporary Ommegang for the MAS”, Van Kerckhoven took her inspiration from a 16th century emblemata book from the library of the print room of the Plantin-Moretus museum.

The design of the light walls on the MAS boulevard is a contemporary art project. Each year, a national or international artist is invited to create a design. The task consists of creating light walls which are very much worth the effort to view both from afar (outside of the MAS) and close-up (in the MAS boulevard).

Anne-Mie Van Kerckhoven, an Antwerp artist with an international reputation, was the first to be approached. She took her inspiration from a 16th century book by the Italian Joannes Pierus Valerianus that she came across in the archive of the print room of the Plantin-Moretus museum. The horizons were a second significant source of inspiration. When you climb the MAS tower and look out, the horizon drops, depending on the level you are on. In the construction of her images, Van Kerckhoven was also guided by the stories and collection pieces in the halls of the museum. By integrating emblemata from the 16th century book into contemporary imaginative digital landscapes and interweaving this with the horizons, Van Kerckhoven created new stories and world view for the MAS.

She populates the surfaces of the light walls with mythical creatures and symbols. The tensions between large and small, nature and culture and human and animal form a contemporary reflection on our society. Each light wall presents a unique story in which fantasy and reality meet.

 

The sequence of the eight floors is like a comic strip or animation film, but also resembles a procession of ideas and elements. The eight light walls offer views, provide direction and tell a story.

Anne-Mie Van Kerckhoven (°1951) combines computer work with drawings, text, sound, video and painting. The relationship between art, exact science, politics and social sciences is central to her work. By examining systems of knowledge and creating a context between them, she offers resistance to the omnipresent chaos of every day life. Over the years, Van Kerckhoven has built up a fascinating and complex multi-media oeuvre. (source: MAS Guide 2011)

In the presentation “Insights and Vistas” in the print room of the Plantin-Moretus museum, the Visitor gains insight into the creative developmental process of the artist. The presentation is spread over three rooms in the museum and exhibits the sources of inspiration, the preliminary designs, sketchbooks and the first versions of the eight light walls.

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Practical:

Insights and Vistas - A contemporary Ommegang for MAS. Anne-Mie Van Kerckhoven     
Print room of the Plantin-Moretus Museum Vrijdagmarkt 22 - 2000 Antwerp from May 18th to August 28, 2011 From Tuesday to Sunday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
MAS/Museum Aan de Stroom Hanzestedenplaats 1 - 2000 Antwerp From Tuesday to Sunday from 9:30 a.m. to Midnight (exhibition halls from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.)

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