6/2/2013
Ives Maes
Stam, Ghent
Traces of world fairs. The Belgian artist travels the world looking for evidence of world fairs, from the first one staged in London in 1851 to the most recent, the Shanghai World Expo in 2010. The exhibition pavilions expressed a utopian vision of promise for the future.
The Belgian artist Ives Maes travels the world looking for evidence of world fairs, from the first one staged in London in 1851 to the most recent, the Shanghai World Expo in 2010.
Ives Maes photographs any architectural remains of these short-lived events and the sites on which they were built, often revealing an ironic contrast between the grand futuristic ideals of the time and the urban reality of the modern world. The exhibition pavilions expressed a utopian vision of promise for the future.
Maes’ photographs are afterimages, lingering vestiges of now fading dreams. STAM’s presentation of forty of these images illustrates the sculptural quality of Ives Maes’ photographic work.
The Afterimages exhibition at STAM is a prelude to the city-wide commemoration of the 1913 World Fair in Ghent. A hundred years on, many of Ghent’s cultural houses are devoting an exhibition or event to the ‘century of progress’. www.gent.be/1913-2013
Little remains of the architecture on the site of Ghent’s 1913 world fair. However, in STAM’s Afterimages a virtual, interactive 3D-maquette gives us an idea of what it looked like and its scale (in cooperation with Ghent City Archive).
In 2012 Ives Maes joined KASK / School of Arts, HoGent as a researcher.
STAM is a heritage forum, a springboard to Ghent's other cultural attractions and a platform for an active heritage policy.
Entitled 'The Story of Ghent’, the permanent circuit follows a clear chronological trail leading through six rooms of the museum, each of which encapsulates a period in the city’s history. More than 300 awesome collection pieces illustrate this story, while multimedia applications provide more in-depth information.
Press contact:
Frederik Verstraete +32 (0)9 2671450 - frederik.verstraete@gent.be
STAM
Bijlokesite Godshuizenlaan 2 9000 Ghent Belgium
Hours
Tuesdays to Sundays 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Closed on Mondays and on December 24th, 25th, 31st and January 1st
Admission
Individual: €6
Reductions: €4.50 (groups of 15 or more, over-55s)
19-25 years: €1
Under-19s: free