1 nov — van 17h tot 22h
2 – 3 nov
7−8−9−10 nov van 17h tot 20h
10 nov van 17h tot 20h
Coupure Rechts 308
9000 Gent
For their collaboration on “Pieces of What” Jan Vandeplancke and Nello Margodt will each present a brand-new installation. As the installations are displayed simultaneously, parallels and frictions may emerge. To address any gaps, the artists will employ an scenographic approach.
The Mudlarks Nest — Jan Vandeplancke
‘The Mudlarks Nest’ is an art installation showcasing and recontextualizing self-discovered archaeological fragments. Pieces of long-forgotten objects are methodically arranged and displayed on a series of industrial streamlined crates. By presenting these fragmented artifacts in a specific context — with sculptural ways of displaying — they might evoke alternative narratives and viewpoints about their speculative origins. In that way, the installation ‘The Mudlarks Nest’ attempts to challenge the perception of items often dismissed as mere ‘trash.’
(Most fragments were found by mudlarking at the riversides of the Schelde near Antwerp during multiple search sessions in 2024.)
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Perfumed Nightmare — Nello Margodt
In the back of the lobby, I saw a thick door with mirrored glass. Wanting to see what was on the other side, i stepped closer, only to see my own blurry reflection. I grabbed the handle and tried opening the door. Instead, i found myself stuck between one side and the other, trapped in the mirrored glass.
Looking around, I found myself in a fractured space — a skeleton-like room with no floor, walls, or ceiling. Three large vials floated in the air, each containing a different coloured liquid. I instantly noticed a bright emerald green vial that lit up the whole space. There was also a bubbly red vial floating in the middle, while the stormy blue vial was the last one I saw, hiding beneath where the floor would have been.
When I gently tried to touch the red vial, it immediately exploded, turning the whole room inside out. I felt a loud heartbeat, but it wasn’t mine. It was as if the room were a living creature and I was inside its tummy, completely swallowed and shredded into pieces. All parts of me saw inside the room from different angles-from above, from the sides, even from underneath.
All the angles began to turn green, and with this green came a smell so terrible that my vision blurred and everything started to fade away. The green liquid turned into gas, then ice, and finally became a hologram of another room inside this one. Serving as some kind of timeline, it showed me the history and future of the space, giving it meaning.
A crowd of people swarmed around something i couldn’t yet see. Wandering closer, I saw an enormous skeleton mounted on an altar. The people were drawn to it, trying to hug it or climb on top. They gathered so closely that they became a fleshy blanket, rebuilding the creature step by step.
A strange feeling came over me. The more the creature was rebuilt, the weaker I felt. Looking at my hands, I noticed I was beginning to lose my physical form. Like some kind of fluid, I seeped away through the cracks in the floor, eventually turning into color. Among many vials containing all kinds of colors, i started to orbit the room faster and faster, until the screen turned black.