Wed. January 8, 6:00PM
TheMerode presents two new group exhibitions, curated by Francesca Gavin and Song Tao respectively.
Join us for an artful evening!
On the program:
The Third Perspective
Curated by Francesca Gavin
From 8 January to 12 July
The Japanese novelist Jun'ichirō Tanizaki wrote his essay on aesthetics, In Praise of Shadows, in 1933. It’s an ode to the mystery of atmosphere and the beauty of the subtle; a loose amalgam of thoughts on Japanese interiors and his reflections on darkness.
The artworks in this exhibition aim to embody Tanizaki’s ideas of nuance. They explore subtlety, atmosphere, the ephemeral, the shadow, the misty, the clouded, and aim to examine our contemporary existence through shades of meaning.
The show takes its name from Afrika Brooke’s recent book, The Third Perspective, which asks us to take a look at self-censorship in the age of cancel culture and online intolerance. It’s a call for mindful expression in an era of binary reduction. Instead of black and white, this is an exhibition about shades, gradation, abstraction and reduction.
With works by Gioele Amaro, Uri Aran, Marcel Berlanger, Jean-Baptiste Bernadet, Mathias Bitzer, Christiane Blattmann, Paloma Bosquê, Varda Caivano, Tony Cokes, Paul Czerlitzki, Edith Dekyndt, TR Ericsson, Gritli Faulhaber, Philipp Fleischmann, Nikolaus Gansterer, Negar Ghiamat, Stefan Guggisberg, Lothar Hempel, Gregor Hildebrandt, Cameron Jamie, Nicolas Jasmin, Nick Jenson, Thomas Jeppe, Patrick H Jones, Dorota Jurczak, Mike Kelley, Renato Leotta, Alex Macedo, Martin Margiela, Paul McDevitt, Danielle McKinney, Elisabeth Molin, Sofie Muller, Zoran Music, Cecilie Norgaard, Bernd Oppl, Oliver Osborne, Hamish Pearch, Iseult Perrault, Charlotte Posenenske, Francis Ruyter, Fabrice Samyn, Sam Samore, Olve Sande, Christian Schoeler, Maaike Schoorel, Peter Simpson, Stephen Skidmore, Henk Somers, Reno Suanez, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Pierre Tal Coat, Ryuji Tanaka, Ulrike Theusner, J. Parker Valentine, Bernard Villers, Jorinde Voigt, Maja Vukoje, James White, Cathy Wilkes, Letha Wilson, Edin Zenun.
Bodiless 巴黎画册英
Curated by Song Tao
From 8 January to 27 March
Bodiless brings together five different lacquer artists—Zhong Sheng, Yao Bangliang, Sun Wenjia, Ou Tingzhu, and Liu Lijun. Their works push the boundaries of lacquer as a medium, spanning diverse forms of artistic expression, including painting, sculpture, ware, and installation. Their creative explorations converge into a new style of contemporary art, where the traditional meets the modern. Through their work, these artists engage deeply with the material, interpreting its properties and connections to both people and the world.
With works by Liu Lijun, OuTingzhu, Sun Wenjia, Yao Bangliang & Zhong Sheng. In collaboration with the collector and sinophile Maxime Bureau.
© Cecilie Norgaard, Under the Weather, 2024 — Photo: Matteo Cantarella