Exhibition Opening: Shōkakkō

Mark your calendar and join us on Wednesday, September 6, for the opening of Shōkakkō, an ode to happiness and welfare.

Shōkakkō is a Japanese term coined by best-selling author Haruki Murakami to describe one of the forms that happiness can take, that of the small pleasures of everyday life.
This happiness, as described in Paul Fort's poem Ballades du beau hasard, ends up slipping away the moment you try to catch it. It takes many forms, and each person sees and experiences it differently.

The ambition of this exhibition is not to give yet another definition of happiness, but rather to share and reflect as a community on the different ways in which we might perceive happiness in our lives.

TheMerode has the pleasure to invite you to discover the multifaceted definitions of happiness as shared by its members and how, through her curation, Emmanuelle Indekeu has turned their words into a pictural experience.

We hope that this exhibition will reveal itself to you as a poetic state, that might lead to anguishing lucidity as much as to the lightness of life where happiness lies.

With works by Alma Allen, Maria Thereza Alves, Cornelius Annor, Miroslaw Balka, Neil Beloufa, Marie José Burki, Bruno Brunet,Varda Caivano, Michael Cline, Adriano Costa, Anne Daems, Jan De Maesschalck, Els Dietvorst, Fernand Flausch, Mekhitar Garabedian, Pélagie Gbaguidi, Robert Gobert, Philippe Graton, Nadia Guerroui, Katie Heck, Thilo Heinzmann, Jeppe Hein, Sadaharu Horio, Steve Kaspar, Jean-François Lacalmontie, Luìs Làzaro Matos, Xie Lei, Patricia Leite, Mads Lindberg, Matthew Lutz-Kinoy, Fernando Marques Penteado, Samantha McEwen, Dan McCarthy, Jonathan Monk, Kaspar Müller, Paulo Nimer Pjota, Jockum Nordström, Laure Prouvost, Niki de Saint Phalle, Linder Sterling, Mònica Subidé, Vivian Suter, Stephanie Temma Hier, Jacky Tsai, Emmanuelle Quertain, Philippe Vandenberg, Philippe Van Snick, Angel Vergara, Jacques Vilet, Leen Voet, Thomas Wachholz, Charlott Weisse, Lawrence Wiener.

TheMerode would thank its partners who made this exhibition possible: Albert Baronian Gallery, Beige, dependance, Dvir Gallery, Frederick Gordts, Gladstone Gallery, Philippe Graton, Rodolphe Janssen Gallery, Johan Larsen, Mendes Wood DM, Nino Mier, Jaqueline Martins Gallery, Modesti Perdriolle, Nosbaum Reding, Société Berlin, Uhoda Collection, Philippe Vandenberg Foundation, Axel Vervoordt Gallery, the Contemporary Art Collection of the National Bank of Belgium and Zeno X.

Credits:
Mads Lindberg
Untitled (Thank you for your business), 2022
Epoxy resin, plastic bag, found painting
Courtesy the artist and Beige, Brussels

Angel Vergara
Duine Bos Zee acte 2, 2022
Oil on canvas
155,50 x 190 cm
Courtesy the artist and Axel Vervoordt Gallery, Antwerp
Photo Credit : Jan Liégeois