In the exhibition This Is Us, selected works from the four largest Flemish museums for contemporary art will be presented together for the very first time. Curator Fabian Flückiger chose artworks from the contemporary collections of M HKA, S.M.A.K., Mu.ZEE and M Leuven. With the artistic learning environment as his inspiration, he reflected on what these collections represent. What do they say about modern society and what can this teach visitors? The exhibition is divided into three chapters: The Art Institution, Living Spaces, and Telling Stories, which contain works by some fifty artists, more than half of whom live and work in Belgium. They also include seven new works, created specifically for this exhibition. This Is Us is a unique collaboration between the leading Flemish museums of contemporary art and Z33.
The three chapters in This Is Us are part of the Z33 series “The Art Institution as a Learning Environment” and explore institutions as places where knowledge is shared through art. Fabian Flückiger sees art collections as seismographs of time, simultaneously capturing both the past and the present. Each new exhibition offers a space for reflection and a place to question the validity of ideas. In This Is Us, the dialogue between past and present is further challenged by the inclusion of newly produced works. This friction creates an artistic learning environment that can sharpen, align and shift perspectives.
More information about the three chapters can be found here.
The exhibition includes works by Richard Artschwager, John Baldessari, Sammy Baloji, Dara Birnbaum, Audrey Cottin, Anne Daems, N. Dash, Robert Devriendt, Marlene Dumas, Mona Filleul, Andrea Fraser, Joris Ghekiere, Karin Hanssen, Ann Veronica Janssens, Jean Katambayi Mukendi, Felix Kindermann, Aglaia Konrad, Wolfgang Laib, Konrad Lueg, Natasja Mabesoone, Dyan Marie, Kerry James Marshall, Hana Miletić, Bruce Nauman, Otobong Nkanga, Cady Noland, Clare Noonan, Sophie Nys, Willem Oorebeek, Meret Oppenheim, Ria Pacquée, Marina Pinsky, Avery Preesman, Emmanuelle Quertain, Peter Rogiers, Jura Shust, Monika Stricker, Ana Torfs, Keith Tyson, Anne-Mie Van Kerckhoven, Michael Van den Abeele, Emmanuel Van der Auwera, Jan Van de Kerckhove, Maarten Vanden Eynde, Anna Zacharoff and Heimo Zobernig.
Fabian Flückiger is an independent curator and lecturer. He has realised exhibitions and publications on Nora Turato (2019), Steven Parrino (2020), Miriam Laura Leonardi (2021), Manon de Boer (2022), ektor garcia (2022) and others.