A photographic group show at Sofie Van de Velde Gallery in Antwerp
Sofie Van de Velde Gallery presents a group show with works by photographers and video artists Max Pinckers, Boris Mikhailov, Emmanuel Van der Auwera, Matthias Bruggmann, Alfredo Jaar and Johan Grimonprez. The exhibition, curated by Joachim Naudts, takes as starting point Max Pinckers' series 'Margins of Excess'. In 'Margins of Excess' reality and fiction are intertwined. Not to fool us, but to reveal a more intricate view of our world, which takes into account the subjective and fictitious nature of the categories we use to perceive and define it.
Nowadays propaganda tools have become available to us all. Social media and mass media have become intertwined, making it possible for the voiceless to be heard. But we already seem to be past this utopian belief in Twitter-revolutions and the force of grassroots Facebook groups. Framing and recuperation are and have always been fundamental in political speech, but it is only now in this ‘post-truth’ age that we are constantly reminded of these mechanisms. We the spectators are forced to decipher the puzzle of reality ourselves. But aren’t we stuck in our own information bubble, floating in mid-air without knowing which direction to take, what to believe in? Or is it more of a free-fall?
This exhibition highlights the role of media in our society and how it encompasses various power structures, each influencing our capacity for empathy and engagement. News outlets are saturated with images, all mediated through something: a device, a person, a technology or an undisclosed structure. The artists in this exhibition all have in common that they question the authority of this black box. Who and what controls what we see? How are we to decode images knowing that one single image can never fully address our world’s complexity?
It is difficult / to get the news from poems / yet men die miserably every day / for lack / of what is found there
25 January - 17 March 2018
Artists: Max Pinckers, Boris Mikhailov, Emmanuel Van der Auwera, Matthias Bruggmann, Alfredo Jaar, Johan Grimonprez, David Birkin
Curated by Joachim Naudts in dialogue with Max Pinckers
Sofie Van de Velde Gallery - Nieuw Zuid
Leon Stynenstraat 21
2000 Antwerpen
