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You pose a question like you cast a rod, to reel in answers, trying to catch, to grasp and conceive.

 

What form does contemporary art take if the makers are critically aware of their socio-political

surrounding without making it the content of their work? How are expectations towards contemporary art defined by the time and circumstances of its creation? Should art answer such expectations or boldly disregard them? Are artworks children of their time the same way artists are? Or will every onlooker reevaluate them, each providing his or her own context of meaning and references?

 

If wishes were fishes is an ambitious group exhibition presenting no less than 20 young artists based in 10 different European cities. It will take place between the 8th and the 23rd of October 2016, opening on the 7th of October at 6pm at LaVallée in Brussels.

 

The creative spot LaVallée in Brussels Molenbeek opened its doors in September 2014. Spread over 6000 square meters, it harbors 102 artists and workers in the creative sector as well as offering exhibition rooms. Artists, architects, and designers from all over Europe share studios in two buildings, creating a most diverse network.

 

In 2015 LaVallée was awarded the “Prix Molenbeek1080 pour l‘intelligence collective et les opportunités de collaboration”. The premises of LaVallée are owned by SMart, a European non-profit organisation with the agenda of supporting people in the creative sector.

 

The exhibition is organised by Frederik Baur and Sina Hensel, both of whom work at LaVallée. They

perceive Brussels as a mirroring of European history and culture. Molenbeek is an exceptional stand-in

for the challenges which Europe needs to overcome in its further development.

 

But the young artists have invited 18 other artists, who choose not to reflect or to comment on the world in a political manner but to use the impressions of everyday life as an accumulator to create art. Since the contemporary will only be temporary, it serves as an entry point for conversation, the place from which to cast the rod. The catch will be something beyond this boundary. Under the title If wishes were fishes, paintings, textile and graphic works, as well as drawings, light installations and videos are shown on the floor of the exhibition hall, on its walls and suspended in mid-air. The works meet through colors, forms and their orientation, and can be read like one giant interlaced installation.

 

IF WISHES WERE FISHES | Group Show

October 7 – October 24, 2016

LaVallée, Rue Adolphe Lavallée 39, 1080 Brussels, Belgium

Opening: Friday, October 7 – Opening hours: Tu & Su, 2 to 6 pm