The Causes of Things: Collection of the Centre national des arts plastiques
March 7–June 9 2013
The CENTRALE for contemporary art
Place Sainte Catherine 44
1000 Brussels, Belgium
www.centrale-art.be
www.cnap.fr
The Centre national des arts plastiques (CNAP, French national centre for the visual arts) and the CENTRALE for contemporary art (Brussels) present THE CAUSES OF THINGS. Taking its title from the quote by the great Latin poet, Virgil, “Happy is the one who knows the causes of things,” the exhibition becomes a riddle and seeks to go to the root of thought and the creative process.
Featured artists: Claudio Abate / Saâdane Afif / Robert Barry / Robert Barta / Eric Baudart / Pierre Bismuth / Olivier Blanckart / Michel Blazy / Eric Cameron / Étienne Chambaud / Claire Fontaine / Peter Coffin / Susan Collis / Édith Dekyndt / documentation céline duval / Olivier Dollinger / Jimmie Durham / Ernest T. / Patrick Faigenbaum / Ceal Floyer / Aurélien Froment / Mario García Torres / Marie-Ange Guilleminot / Graham Gussin / Raymond Hains / Louise Hervé And Chloé Maillet/ Nathan Hylden / Emmanuelle Lainé / Louise Lawler / Saverio Lucariello / Vik Muniz / Bruce Nauman / Patrick Neu / Jorge Pedro Núñez / Roman Ondák / Florian & Michael Quistrebert / Maxime Rossi / Denis Savary / Nicolas Schöffer / Yann Sérandour / Alexandre Singh / Julien Tiberi / Jean-Luc Verna / We Are The Painters/ Rémy Zaugg
In this exhibition, the artist becomes a lucid observer of the world, and particularly of the artistic creation. He freely plays with the forms of the historic avant-garde, casts a critical eye on the originality of forms and systems of thought, seeks to free himself from his glorious origins, and asserts the primacy of chance and gradual erasure.
Through a selection of some one hundred works from CNAP’s collection, this exhibition presents a plot in which the root of the work turns out to be the protagonist, from the definition of Robert Barry’s doubt to the methodical destruction of Documentation Céline Duval’s origins, from the spontaneity of Nicolas Schöffer’s movement to Michel Blazy’s experiments.
The exhibition will extend across all the CENTRALE’s galleries and will place particular focus on the young French scene, well represented in the collections. The exhibition will also feature a video room covering the major themes of the tour, going from the questions of Bruce Nauman on the definition of the role of the artist to the archaeological adventures of Louise Hervé and Chloé Maillet.
A catalogue will accompany the exhibition, to be published in March 2013.
Curators
Sébastien Faucon, responsible for the Centre national des arts plastiques (CNAP France) visual arts collection & Carine Fol, Art Director of the CENTRALE for contemporary art
