Jan Hoet statements

1986 Chambres d' Amis

The first major exhibition in which he showed contemporary Belgian art in Ghent was Aktuele Kunst in België in 1979. Inzicht/Overzicht Overzicht/Inzicht. This was also the first occasion on which Jan Hoet showed what he considered a museum of contemporary art should be: a place that would increasingly function as a platform for the art that was being created in the world, a place to enter into dialogue with people who live in the present and who therefore wish to be confronted with contemporary art. But it was probably through the legendary Chambres d’Amis exhibition project in 1986 that Jan Hoet and the museum became best known. Many of us will still remember that people at various places in the city opened up their homes to make them available as exhibition spaces, thus literally enabling art to be taken ‘into people’s living rooms’. LINK statements (newsmonkey in Dutch)

Eva Hesse

Converging Lines: Eva Hesse and Sol LeWitt 
@ Blanton Museum of Art

Her art is often viewed in light of all the painful struggles of her life including escaping the Nazis, her parents' divorce, the suicide of her mother when she was ten, her failed marriage and the death of her father. Danto describes her as "cop[ing] with emotional chaos by reinventing sculpture through aesthetic insubordination, playing with worthless material amid the industrial ruins of a defeated nation that, only two decades earlier, would have murdered her without a second thought." She also always felt she was fighting for recognition in a male dominated art world. Hesse is one of a few artists who led the move from Minimalism to Postminimalism. Danto distinguishes it from minimalism by its "mirth and jokiness" and "unmistakable whiff of eroticism", its "nonmechanical repetition". She was influenced by, and in turn influenced, many famous artists of the 1960s through today. For many artists and friends who knew her, Eva Hesse was so charismatic that her spirit remains simply unforgettable to this day. LINK blantonmuseum

mini museum

The mini museum is a portable collection of curiosities where every item is authentic, iconic and labeled. It's been carefully designed to take you on a journey of learning and exploration. The idea is simple. For the past 35 years I have collected amazing specimens specifically for this project. I then carefully break those specimens down into smaller pieces, embed them in resin, and you end up with an epic museum in a manageable space. Each mini museum is a handcrafted, individually numbered limited edition. And If you consider the age of some of these specimens - it's been billions of years in the making.  The majority of these specimens were acquired directly from contacting specialists recommended to me by museum curators, research scientists and university historians. LINK mini museum

Carleton Watkins

@ Nederlands fotomuseum Rotterdam

Carleton E. Watkins (November 11, 1829 - June 23, 1916) was a noted 19th-century California photographer. He became interested in landscape photography and soon started making photographs of California mining scenes and of Yosemite Valley. He experimented with several new photographic techniques, and eventually favored his "Mammoth Camera," which used large glass plate negatives, and a stereographic camera. He became famous for his series of photographs and historic stereoviews of Yosemite Valley in the 1860s that helped influence Congress' decision to establish the valley as a National Park in 1864. Watkins also took a variety of images of California and Oregon in the 1870s and later. Watkins accompanied painter William Keith on at least one western expedition. LINK nederlandsfotomuseum

Xu Bing

@ Taipei Fine Arts Museum

In January 2014 Taipei Fine Arts Museum presents Xu Bing: 
A Retrospective, Asia’s first large-scale solo exhibition of international contemporary artist Xu Bing, curated by senior curator and art critic Chia Chi Jason Wang. Xu Bing has been actively pursuing art for four decades, from 1975 to today. In 1991 he exhibited A Book from the Sky and Ghosts Pounding the Wall at the Elvehjem Museum of Art on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus, a key event that laid the foundation for his artistic accomplishments and status. He infuses his contemporary art with Eastern philosophy and culture. His works engage in critical thinking about the written word and other tools of communication, the nature of art and civilization, and similarities and conflicts among different species and cultures. LINK xubing

Ernesto Neto

The Body that Carries Me

February 14 - May 18, 2014


@ Guggenheim Bilbao

Ernesto Neto is known for his biomorphic sculptural environments. Originally inspired by the Brazilian Neo-Concrete movement of the 1950s and 1960s, Neto moved from hardedge iron sculptures to his signature pendulous nylon sacks filled with aromatic spices, lead, sand, and Styrofoam balls. Neto mixes the highbrow formalism of minimalism with the sociability and fun of relational aesthetics. Viewers are encouraged to poke, touch, and - in some cases - even walk through these plush organic forms. Neto has had solo shows at major art institutions around the world, including London's Institute for Contemporary Art, Site Santa Fe, Kunsthalle Basel, and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. He represented Brazil in the 2001 Venice Biennale. LINK guggenheim-bilbao

RAW Art

RAW Art Fair is an independent Fair with a festival flair, created in 2012 by Bob Smit. Beyond it's independent character, encouraging young and
uprising artists and galleries, RAW Art Fair has succeeded since it's inception in engaging fairly good sales while accommodating visitors with
pleasurable facilities. Such opportunity to combine both commercial and non-commercial endeavours beyond the standard art fair tradition constitutes
altogether RAW Art Fair’s unique trade mark, inciting the art industry to widen it's reach and eventually it's sales. In 2014 from February 5 to February 9, RAW Art Fair will be hosted in the spacious Cruise Terminal, overlooking the city of Rotterdam from the river’s
south side. The monumental arrivals and departures hall of the former Holland-America line will give the feeling of one curated exhibition. Most of theparticipating galleries will present solo exhibitions and in the open spaces in and around the fair one can enjoy various large sculptures and installations. LINK rawartfair

Van Nelle

Maze de Boer

Maze de Boer is a multi-disciplinair artist who works with Sculpture, installation, film/ video, photography and music.He starts from a staged view on reality and seeks the boundaries between theatre and visual art.In his work de Boer shows a fascination for illusion.The spectator becomes aware of ‘the boundaries’ of reality and always appears to be the object of his three-dimensional work.In his work he reacts on the historical background and the social context of the exhibition and/ or location.His installations are often referred as site-specific although site-responsive would perhaps be more accurate. LINK

Art Rotterdam

The 15th edition of Art Rotterdam will be celebrated at a new location: the Van Nellefabriek. Here, all sections of the fair are now under one roof: Main, New Art and Projections; the second edition of the innovative video section. In and around the Van Nellefabriek there are numerous pop-up shows and artist presentations. LINK artrotterdam

Michaël Borremans

Michaël Borremans‘s drawings, paintings, and films present an evocative combination of solemn-looking characters, unusual close-ups, and unsettling still lifes. There is a theatrical dimension to his works, which are highly staged and ambiguous, just as his complex and open-ended scenes lend themselves to conflicting moods at once nostalgic, darkly comical, disturbing, and grotesque. His paintings display a concentrated dialogue with previous art historical epochs, yet their unconventional compositions and curious narratives defy expectations and lend them an indefinable yet universal character. Borremans was born in 1963 in Geraardsbergen, Belgium. In 1996, he received his M.F.A. from Hogeschool voor Wetenschap en Kunst, Campus St. Lucas, in Ghent. LINK bawag-foundation

Abraham Lincoln in the Kitchen

@ Smithsonian Books

Abraham Lincoln in the Kitchen: A Culinary View of Lincoln’s Life and Times, coming from Smithsonian Books Feb. 4, is a culinary biography that lets readers see the everyday life of President Abraham Lincoln. Midwestern cook and food historian Rae Katherine Eighmey uncovers authentic 19th-century recipes in period cookbooks and researches Lincoln’s grocery bills in Springfield ledgers to discover the foods that were cooked in his home. She solves riddles such as what type of barbecue could be served to thousands at political rallies when paper plates and napkins did not exist, and what gingerbread recipe could have been Lincoln’s childhood favorite when few families owned cookie cutters. LINK newsdesk smithsonian

Portraits King ugly ?

@ Zwijndrecht

The municipality of Zwijndrecht is in his stomach with residents made ​​portraits of King Willem-Alexander. In December, the city held a competition in which people were called to King Willem Alexander in the form of a portrait. The winning portrait would get a spot on the wall in the council chamber. LINK zwijndrecht (in Dutch)