Justyna Wierzchowiecka - More Than Once
20/10/2017 - 10/11/2017
Related Artists :
Curated by Romuald Demidenko
Komplot Chaussée de Forest 90 Vorste Steenweg 1060 Brussels
Realised within a series by guest curators at Komplot as part of The School Of Curating.
With the generous support of: FWB - Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles, COCOF, VGC
Most of the things have been photographed. Images circulating amongst the photo
documentations or collections projected on the screens of our devices originate an obvious
debate over the presence of art and objects being reproduced in the hybrid reality. Their
saturation in the networked cycle is on a thin line between the physically existing and the
scarcely visualized. Distribution of an immaculate hi-res replica will not replace an
impression of seeing the original piece but it possibly will turn out to be equally or even more
exciting. What happens to the museum objects when turned into souvenirs to be acquired by visitors? And what is the relation between a prototype and its perfect copy made from entirely different materials? A mould that can be cast repeatedly. On the occasion of her solo exhibition, Justyna Wierzchowiecka converted partially her apartment into an atelier to make her own interpretation of bas-relief by Jef Lambeaux featuring a scene of ‘Human Passions’ produced between 1886 and 1898, now on display in a classicist tempietto pavilion by Victor Horta.
For a couple of weeks, the private space is being used as a studio to cast and shape new
works. And by contrast, a collection possessed by one of the biggest public museums in
Brussels, belonging to the Royal Museums of Art and History — Musee du Cinquantenaire,
serves as a point of departure for creating them. A sculpture in Carrara marble is placed in a
pavilion on the other side of the park. Launched in 1898, today belongs to the museum-park
complex just at the stone's throw from EU epicentre. Due to the flame of indignation from the Belgian authorities and church naming the scene 'seditious', the pavilion was respectively opened and closed again, a number of times, remaining publically inaccessible throughout 99 years. Re-opened in 2014 it has become a new landmark of Brussels providing a chance to view one of the most curious works by a Flemish sculptor Jef Lambeaux who created avast amount of realizations, both large scale and much smaller or even miniature custom-made objects.
Wierzchowiecka does not only peer at the Lambeaux's work in a never-visited- by-him
pavilion by Horta, which he truly detested. She's also interested in the operating of the
institution itself, opening Horta-Lambeaux to the public six months per year. Passing through
the museum shop, you can come across the collection of copies made in-situ and acquired
by visitors, often delusively resembling the original works. Questioning the role of an art work
and at the same time revealing mesmerizing 3D reproductions hand-made by an army of
casting artists.
The exhibition at Komplot is also a follow-up of ‘Museum Studies’, a series consisting of
edited images taken from the artist’s archive or appropriated photos which call into question
the authorship and physical presence and actuality of an eponymous museum and its
surrounding or visitors who appear within its premises, their facial expressions and grimaces
bringing associations with Baroque sculpture. Digitally shape shifting and modifying give
them a more performative dimension or even 'blasphemous' and 'pornographic' character.
‘Museum Studies’ were presented as an exhibition and publication during 2016 Cracow
Photomonth.
Justyna Wierzchowiecka (b. 1991, Koszalin) is a Polish artist based in Brussels. She works
predominantly in photography and video. Justyna completed her BA in visual design at
ÉSAD Orléans, and she is a graduate of photography MA program at the La Cambre Visual
Arts Academy in Brussels. She was the laureate of Showoff 2016 during Krakow Photomonth
and one of the participants of Plat(t)form 2017 at Museum Winterthur in Switzerland. She is a
member of GUSH collective.
FR
À l'occasion de cette exposition personnelle, Justyna Wierzchowiecka a partiellement
converti son appartement en atelier pour faire sa propre interprétation du bas-relief de Jef
Lambeaux, mettant en scène les «Passions humaines» produit entre 1886 et 1898, exposé
dans le pavillon néo-classique de Victor Horta. Pendant quelques semaines, un espace privé
sert de studio pour mouler et façonner de nouvelles œuvres. En revanche, la collection d'un
des grands musées publics bruxellois, appartenant aux Musées royaux d'Art et d'Histoire -
Musée du Cinquantenaire, sert de point de départ à leur création. Une sculpture en marbre
de Carrare est placée dans un pavillon de l'autre côté du parc. Lancé en 1898, il appartient
aujourd'hui au complexe du musée-parc situé à deux pas de l'épicentre de l'Union
européenne. En raison de la flamme de l'indignation des autorités et de l'église belges qui
qualifiaient la scène de «séditieuse», le pavillon fut ouvert et refermé plusieurs fois et resta
inaccessible pendant 99 ans. Réouvert en 2014, il devient un nouvel emblème de Bruxelles
offrant une chance de voir l'une des œuvres les plus curieuses du sculpteur belge Jef
Lambeaux qui a réalisé une vaste gamme de sculptures, à la fois sur mesure à grande
échelle et beaucoup plus petits ou même miniatures.
NL
Ter gelegenheid van deze solotentoonstelling transformeerde Justyna Wierzchowiecka haar
appartement deels in een atelier om een eigen interpretatie te maken van de bas-reliefs van
een scene van Jef Lambeaux “Human Passions” geproduceerd tussen 1886 en 1889 en nu
zichtbaar in een neoclassicistisch paviljoen van de hand van Victor Horta. Gedurende enkele
weken wordt een private ruimte gebruikt als atelier om nieuw werk te maken. En in contrast,
een verzameling in het bezit van één van de grootste musea in Brussel, dat hoort tot het
Koninklijk Museum voor Kunst en Geschiedenis - met name het Jubelparkmuseum dat dient
als een startpunt om de werken te maken. Een beeldhouwwerk in Carrara marmer werd in
een paviljoen aan de andere kant van het park geplaatst. Gelanceerd in 1898 behoort het nu
tot het museumpark-complex op een steenworp van het EU-epicentrum. Door de
verontwaardiging van de Belgische overheden en de kerk die de scene als “opruiend”
bestempelden, werd het paviljoen respectievelijk geopend en gesloten, keer op keer, en was
het niet publiek toegankelijk gedurende 99 jaar. Heropend in 2014 wordt het een nieuwe
mijlpaal in Brussel en biedt het de kans om één van de meest zeldzame werken van de
Belgische beeldhouwer Jef Lambeaux te zien, die een groot scala van objecten realiseerde:
van grootschalige, tot veel kleinere of zelfs handgemaakte miniaturen.
