Wesley Meuris
R-05.Q-IP.0001
12 May–2 September 2012
Casino Luxembourg –
Forum d’art contemporain
41, rue Notre-Dame, (B.P. 345)
L – 2013 Luxembourg
T +352 22 50 45
F +352 22 95 95
info [at] casino-luxembourg.lu
Curated by Kevin Muhlen
For several years the work of the artist Wesley Meuris (who was born in 1977 and lives and works in Belgium) has concerned constructed and rationalized environments such as archives or enclosures for animals in zoos. His first big solo exhibition, R-05.Q-IP.0001, focuses on exhibition spaces. Through drawings, diagrams, texts, models, and full-scale sculptures and installations, Wesley Meuris provides an analysis of standard systems of exhibition presentation and presents a reflection on the museographical space.
By definition, museography means “all the technical notions required for the presentation and correct conservation of artworks in museums” (Larousse). Thus the display norms of artefacts or art objects respond to a series of devices (plinths, display cases, modules, etc) required for the correct presentation of the object which, at the same time, orient the movement of the public. Wesley Meuris uses these museographical principles as the basis of his work while radically changing the rules of the game: to do so he disregards the exhibited object—in other words, the content—highlighting the surroundings, which become the real subject of his work.
Straight away, the artist plunges the visitor into the codified universe of the exhibition, with an entirely redesigned reception area. Although this space is denuded of content (as are all the devices which mark out the exhibition route), its function remains clearly identifiable. Thus, from room to room, there is a succession of display cases and empty plinths in a spartan aesthetic. The title of the exhibition, which is presented in the form of a code—R-05.Q-IP.0001—is a logical response to this standardized system.
However, it would be reductive to solely assimilate the ideas of Wesley Meuris with the museographic approach. Indeed, the latter allows him to enlarge the field of his discourse to include more general themes like the communication surrounding an exhibition or even the phenomenon of “spectacularization” of museum institutions. In recent years, museums having slipped towards a form of public entertainment, the success of which is solely measured in terms of attendance. A process is therefore established which, like a circular system in which entertainment leads to knowledge and vice versa, is conditioned by this interdependence.
The publication F.E.A.K. – Foundation for Exhibiting Art and Knowledge (ABL Publishers and Cultuurcentrum Brugge in collaboration with Casino Luxembourg – Forum d’art contemporain) accompanies the exhibition.
The exhibition takes place with the generous support of Vlaamse Overheid. In the framework of MONO: www.mono2012.eu.
Press contact: presse [at] casino-luxembourg.lu
