EXHIBITIONS

CONRAD SHAWCROSS

THE NERVOUS SYSTEMS (INVERTED)

The interests of Conrad Shawcross are mainly focussed on scientific and philosophical questions. These disciplines combine in his artistic work to create pictures which make complicated connections or fundamental theoretical concepts visible so that people can experience them. The Nervous System, an installation designed for the Grand Hall of the Mudam, is similar to a number of other machines which produce rope and separate it into its individual strands again.

BØRRE SÆTHRE

UNTITLED (WARDENCLYFFE TOWER)

The installations of the Norwegian artist Børre Sæthre take the shape of dreamlike environments, on the borderline between fairy tales and futuristic worlds, calling to mind the atmosphere of a film like 2001: A Space Odyssey by Stanley Kubrick. Like these scenes associating stuffed animals and high-tech environments, playing on the concertina-ing of eclectic worlds, they trigger in viewers an impression of uncanniness.

TINA GILLEN

PLAYGROUND

The paintings of the Luxembourg artist Tina Gillen present figurative worlds offset by abstract forms. The back-and-forth movement between these two dimensions goes hand in hand with a shrewd balance between a great mastery of the pictorial vocabulary and a certain “slackening” in the execution. The Mudam show, made up of works created specifically for the occasion, will have the theme of the arboretum as its point of departure.

MAURIZIO GALANTE & TAL LANCMAN

TRANSVERSAL DESIGN. HAUTE COUTURE - DESIGN - ARCHITECTURE

Maurizio Galante, a haute couture fashion designer, and Tal Lancman, underscore the close link between art and industry. From concept to making, the works on view illustrate their meetings with Baccarat, Boffi, Cerruti Baleri, Craft, the Fondation Cartier, Ithemba, the Mudam, Mussi… Merging past and future, craftsmanship and technology, Maurizio Galante and Tal Lancman describe for us the itinerary of their creations, from the “conception of the idea” to the finished products.

SARAH SZE

Sarah Sze creates ephemeral in situ sculptures, in which a host of everyday objects are painstakingly assembled to form light and fragile structures which invade space. Her works are invariably conceived in response to the architecture of exhibition venues, and invite spectators to move among different scales, ranging from humble to monumental, micro- and macroscopic. Mudam has invited Sara Sze to make a new installation for the Museum Pavilion.

VICTOR MAN

Combining paintings, sculptures, found objects, photographs and silkscreened works, the installations of Victor Man are hallmarked by their murky atmospheres, at once fascinating and disquieting. Often made with found images connected to a more or less recent past, which, removed from their initial context, take on other levels of meaning, his works exude melancholy, solitude, the violence of existence, desire, and a certain mysticism.

FABRICA

Next Cabane and Riot Act are projects of Fabrica. This think tank of the company Benetton is an applied creativity laboratory, a talent incubator, a studio of sorts in which young artists are invited to develop innovative projects and explore new directions, from design, music and film to photography, publishing and the Internet. These artist-experimenters are accompanied along their research path by leading figures, blurring the boundaries of culture and language.

LES DÉTOURS DE L'ABSTRACTION

COLLECTION MUDAM

History recorded Kandinsky’s shock when, in 1896, he found himself in front of the series of Monet’s Meules/Haystacks, an experience which he turned into the ground-breaking birth of abstraction. More than a century later, while the theoretical not to say political challenges which have gone hand in hand with the adventure of abstraction no longer have any currency, the fact remains that abstract art is still diversifying. It is this feature which the exhibition is intent on emphasizing, focusing on the dissolution of the motif and the appearance of forms.

DESIGN CITY 2012

Design City is concerned with design for its contribution to quality of life, a decisive factor in the locating of companies and an important element of differenciation and tourist attraction. Design City 2012 is presenting a series of events which focus on multidisciplinary work of designers. On this occasion, public space will host the exhibition Index: Award 2011, presenting a selection from the 60 finalists nominated for this big international design prize.