Jan De Cock
dal 9/3/2012 al 23/6/2012
Segnalato da
9/3/2012
Jan De Cock
Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden, Baden-Baden
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. A Romantic Exhibiton. In his work, he lets historical, architectural and cinematic givens enter into a dialogue. Jan De Cock reflects the history of contemporary art in his work while suggesting that an interpretation of its visual legacy does not occur impartially as it constantly demands new proportions.
The Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden and the Stadtmuseum in Baden-Baden jointly present a
grand exhibition of entirely new works by the Belgian artist Jan De Cock. In the show, the artist who
was born in 1976, unfolds a complex, interlocking system of fragments, changing the perfect white
rooms of the Kunsthalle and the glass pavillion of the Stadtmuseum into a landscape of splintered
units that seemingly has neither a point of departure, nor one of arrival.
For the exhibition six artist books have been published: Spectacle Saturation Fanatism Overcome,
Imitation and Value are the respective titles of different books, each of which will be allocated to an
exhibition room. In the series of “Cahiers”, as the artist calls them, these symptomatic terms will be
linked to moments in the life of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, thereby suggesting her biography as the
recurring theme that connects the dots in the exhibition. As a grand icon of a bygone era, she
constitutes an imaginary projection plane for the Romantic yearnings and desires of the 21st century.
Jan De Cock even describes the whole exhibition as a romantic undertaking, and thereby
intentionally provokes a contrast between the mental images evoked by the title and the “Cahiers”
and the complex surfaces of his sculptural compositions.
The works shown in the exhibition were made using industrially produced materials. A series of
sculptures, referred to as “Romantische Skulpturen”, consists of grand steel profile frames measuring
nearly three by three meters, upon which precisely crafted layers of coated wood and other materials
have been attached. The works bring to mind expansive objects from former series by the artist, that
now seem to have been shoved against the wall. In other words, entire rooms have been
transformed into reliefs. Located in front of these reliefs, other sculptures reproduce fragments of
architectural elements. Individual staircases appear, or a tilted pedestal that still seems to be
attached to a section of the floor from the artist’s studio. By compressing complete rooms into reliefs,
the artist has diminished the distance between the studio and the gallery, compressing both into
one space.
Time and again, the above-mentioned fragments reappear in the the exhibition, supplemented by
others, like an architectural ornament, accurately cut wooden modules or the traces of a plaster cast.
Some of these variations are developed into new forms, so that the spectator is forced to attempt to
decode the spatial compositions of each room separately. Through a constant interplay of suggested
references and a negation to specify and substantiate, the artist creates an improvisational “modus
operandi”, that exhausts the intellectual freedom of aesthetic discourse to the extreme. As a
spectator, one is left to waver from one fragment to the next, in search of the narrative offered by an
all encompassing interpretation. Lastly it might be exactly this quest itself, with which the artist
manages to map our contemporary crisis-ridden society.
After solo exhibitions in some of the most important art institutions internationally, like the Schirn
Kunsthalle, Frankfurt, 2005, the Tate Modern, London, 2005, the MoMA, New York, 2008 and the
BOZAR, Brussels, 2009, we are very pleased to present this artist with such a comprehensive
exhibition here in Baden-Baden.
Catalogue On the occasion of the exhibition a catalogue will be published with Verlag der
Buchhandlung Walther König. Edited by Johan Holten, texts by Liene Aerts, Luc Derycke and Johan
Holten, with numerous installation views, Cologne, 192 p., 24,80 €, ISBN 978-3-86335-171-7. It is the
first German / English publication of Jan De Cock’s works.
The exhibition is supported by: The Baden-Württemberg Ministry for Education, Research, and the
Arts as well as the City of Baden-Baden and Brenner’s Park-Hotel & Spa.
Press contact:
Dr. Dirk Teuber, +49 (0) 7221 30076404; Eva Hepper, +49 (0) 178 5546704; presse@kunsthalle-baden-baden.de
Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden
Lichtentaler Allee 8a 76530 Baden-Baden
Opening hours Tuesday – Sunday 10 AM-6 PM
Admission Staatliche Kunsthalle and Stadtmuseum Baden-Baden (Combined ticket) € 6 / reduced € 5