The Raft, conversation with Ostend

I have not yet seen this exhibition but glimpsing through the splendid catalogue has me all convinced... till April 15,2018. 
"The Raft. Art is (not) Lonely’ is not only an exhibition, but also a conversation with Ostend, the City by the Sea with its own distinct history and scent. The baseline of the dramaturgy of Mu.ZEE’s exhibition, which will be presented in various locations spread across the Belgian seaside resort, is the thorough research conducted into ‘The Raft of the Medusa’ (1818) by Théodore Géricault and Jan Fabre’s utopian raft ‘Art is (not) Lonely’ (1986). Although there is an unmistakable 170-year time difference and a completely different historical origin, both works tie in with each other thanks to their visualisation of the expedition and the destination of the artist, which is a theme acting as a metaphor of the condition humaine.

http://www.muzee.be/en/muzee/t208000/the-raft-art-is-not-lonely

The university library in Leuven/Louvain

 A visit to Leuven always feels like coming home since I spent a lot of time there as a student. I always like an excuse to go back.
 Above, the University Library at  Mgr. Ladeuzeplein. In picture 2 you also see the bug on the needle. I have talked about Jan Fabre's bug before: 
http://whatisbelgium.blogspot.be/2011/11/bug-on-needle-in-leuven.html

Wikipedia says the following on the subject of the Library:
"It was designed by the American architect Whitney Warren in a neo-Flemish-Renaissance style, and built between 1921 and 1928. Its monumental size is a reflection of the Allied victory against Germany, and it is one of the largest university buildings in the city. The library's collections were rebuilt with donations from all around the world, outraged by the barbaric act which it had suffered. In 1940, during the second German invasion of Leuven, the building largely burnt down, including its 900,000 manuscripts and books. The blaze is thought to have started in an exchange of fire between the two armies, rather than a deliberate act. The building was rebuilt after the war in accordance with Warren's design.The library's collections were again restored after the war, and by the fission in 1968 had approximately four million books. The split of the university into separate French-language and Dutch-language institutions in 1968 entailed a division of the central library holdings. This was done on the basis of alternate shelfmarks (except in cases where a work clearly belonged to one section or the other, e.g. was written by a member of faculty or bequeathed by an alumnus whose linguistic allegiance was clear). This gave rise to the factoid that encyclopedias and runs of periodicals were divided by volume between the two universities, but actually such series bear single shelfmarks".http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_University_of_Leuven_(1834–1968)

Jan Fabre in Rome's Maxxi

 

Rome is one of my very favorite places, and I had the great pleasure of spending a few days there at the end of December. A visit to the relatively new Maxxi museum was on my list of things to see this time. I had not checked to see what exhibitions were on display, since I wanted to see the building itself: I had planned an architectural trip to see the work of  Zaha Hadid. 

To my surprise, I stumbled upon a very famous compatriot, as Maxxi has a large Jan Fabre exhibition showing documents, installations, statues and films on the artist's performances. If you are interested in knowing more or discovering his work, read the information in the link below from which I am borrowing the following quote:   
"Constantly at its core is the artist himself, from body to mind and both examined, scoured and indeed tormented inch by inch. Although already clear from the videos of his performances – initially body-art experiments but then complex theatre performances – the full realisation comes from observation of the expanse of drawings, notes, objects and thinking models that fill the exhibition space". 
http://www.domusweb.it/en/art/2013/10/29/jan_fabre_stigmata.html
http://janfabre.be/angelos/tentoonstellingen/lopend/jan-fabre-stigmata-actions-performances-1976-2013/nl/
http://www.zaha-hadid.com/architecture/maxxi/

A bug on a needle in Leuven.

"In the year 2000, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven celebrated its 575th anniversary. To express its connection with the city of Leuven, the university decided to present the city with a gift. Jan Fabre was commissioned to create a sculpture. Totem was unveiled in October 2004. It is a beetle, measuring 2.7 metres across, that is speared to the sky on a needle that stretches to a height of 23 metres. Totem is placed on Ladeuzeplein, the square right in front of the central university library, the university's pre-eminent icon of knowledge and science.
A totem is a meeting point as well as a symbol of a different reality, beyond human perception. That way, Totem emphasises the relationship between art and science, because imagination is indispensable for both good art and good science".
http://www.angelos.be/EN/works/7
Since this is about Leuven, I decided to show in picture 2 a progress report on the city works: slowly but surely...