MASEREEL launches a new international biennial of contemporary art
RHIZOMA 2025, "Our future is to live with bruises," will take place from May 24 to July 13, 2025. Press preview on Thursday, May 22 at 10 AM
MASEREEL, the art center in Kasterlee (Antwerp province), which recently announced its new name, is launching the new biennial exhibition project RHIZOMA starting this year. RHIZOMA is an international biennial of contemporary art that takes place on the site and in the immediate surroundings of the MASEREEL art center.
The first edition, titled "Our Future is to Live with Bruises," will be held from May 25 to July 13, 2025, and will showcase new and historical works addressing themes of vulnerability, personal expression, and resilience. Spread across multiple indoor and outdoor locations in the lush surroundings of Kasterlee, just steps away from each other, visitors will encounter videos, sculptures, paintings, works on paper, and texts.
As an artist-centered initiative, RHIZOMA prioritizes innovative and experimental artistic practices that offer new perspectives on the essence of art and the world around us. To this end, it initiates and presents new projects in conjunction with recent and historical works.
An excerpt from a poem by Otobong Nkanga, Our Future is to Live with Bruises, gives its title to RHIZOMA.
The inaugural edition of RHIZOMA is titled "Our Future is to Live with Bruises," after a 2015 poem by visual artist Otobong Nkanga. Participating artists reflect on how we relate to our individual needs and to others, to shared values and cultural conventions, as well as to objects, ideologies, and (power) structures that surround us. They also explore the transformative potential of acknowledging emptiness and learning to live with our limitations.
RHIZOMA offers visitors a surprising, thought-provoking, and unifying artistic journey. To do so, MASEREEL collaborates with local associations, develops multi-year partnerships with artists, and brings together new creations with recent and historical works never before presented in Belgium.
RHIZOMA
24 May - 13 July 2025
Starting and finishing point: MASEREEL
Masereeldijk 5
2460 Kasterlee
New website: www.masereel.art (Online as of 10 March)
Press preview: Thursday 22 May, 11am
- 9:30 AM: Welcome with coffee and tea
- 10:00 AM: Introduction by Stijn Maes, Artistic Director of MASEREEL
- 10:00 AM: Start of the venue tours (bicycles will be available)
- 12:30 PM: Lunch
Participating artists:
Amalia Ulman, Amar Kanwar, Andrea Büttner, Clara Spilliaert, Corita Kent, Jeremy Deller, Otobong Nkanga, Pei-Hsuan Wang, Sawangwongse Yawnghwe, Wim Cuyvers, en anderen.
Artistic director: Stijn Maes
More information: https://fransmasereelcentrum.be
Press contact:
Micha Pycke
Club Paradis
+32 (0)486 680 070
micha@clubparadis.be
ABOUT MASEREEL
Founded in 1972 and rooted in the 1960s, MASEREEL houses a renowned graphic workshop, professionally equipped for artists to question and expand their artistic practice with the support of master printers, guest lecturers, and fellow residents. Each year, around 40 individual artists and 10 collectives participate in the residency programs.
Although MASEREEL is internationally recognized for its residency program, it has never been limited to this mission alone. This approach has been further reinforced under the current leadership of Stijn Maes, who, since 2019, has initiated solo exhibitions by Walter Swennen, Slavs & Tatars, and Simon Denny, as well as group projects featuring, among others, Amy Sillman, Pélagie Gbaguidi, Emmanuelle Quertain, Joris Van de Moortel, and Marina Pinsky. He has also supported the publication of works by artists such as Melissa Gordon, Nora Turato, and Wim Cuyvers.
The launch of the RHIZOMA international biennial in 2025 marks a new chapter in MASEREEL's artistic programme.