The Root Cellar. The exhibition allows Ekblad to realise a new body of work. Fundamental is her interest in the historical perspective that is a central element of our time. References to modernistic movements like Cobra or Informal are mixed with a contemporary attitude.
curated by Lorenzo Benedetti
Ida Ekblad will realise for the first time a solo exhibition in the Netherlands. The project, originally conceived together with the Oslo National Museum and the Kunstmuseum in Luzern, will show recent and new works of Ekblad and some will be created specifically for the environment of De Vleeshal.
The exhibition at De Vleeshal allows Ekblad to realise a new body of work. Fundamental is her interest in the historical perspective that is a central element of our time. References to modernistic movements like Cobra or Informal are mixed with a contemporary attitude. These elements are central also in the programme of De Vleeshal. As I had the chance to work with Ida Ekblad in the exhibition I curated “Les sculpture meurent aussi” (Sculpture Also Dies) in 2010, it was possible to frame her work in a new wave of sculpture that is becoming more and more central in the artistic discourse.
This deepness in the contemporary context is a central research of the Norwegian artist. Through combining historical perspective in a contemporary cultural and social element, Ekblad gives an answer to the superficial connotation of a contemporary society based on speed and consumption. The use of discarded material to realise assemblage is a translation of the recuperation of the element of history to embrace a more complex relationship between art and time.
Lorenzo Benedetti
Opens Saturday 2 November, 5 p.m.
De Vleeshal
Zusterstraat 7, 4331 KG Middelburg, the Netherlands
Open Tuesday to Sunday, 1 pm – 5 pm
admission free