Search results for ""author philippe van cauteren""

Philippe Van Cauteren, director of the Municipal Museum of Contemporary Art (S.M.A.K.) in Ghent, has for many years written letters to artists all over the world. He directs his thoughts in a very personal manner to artists who inspire him. Van Cauteren's letters are written in a straightforward and accessible way; at times, they even verge on the poetic. They offer an insight into how a curator experiences and interprets art, and provide a clear and succinct introduction to the work of each artist to whom he writes. This richly illustrated book contains more than 100 letters. In an introductory manifesto - a final letter to Jan Hoet, his predecessor and the founder of S.M.A.K. - Van Cauteren also describes the 'ideal museum of the future'. This book is a reflection of the contemporary cultural arena, the roles of a museum and an artist within this arena and the way in which diverse parties can collaborate constructively. It features letters to, among others, Michaël Borremans, Berlinde De Bruyckere, Jan Fabre, Adrian Ghenie, Jan Hoet, Mark Manders, Thomas Ruff, Pascale Marthine Tayou, Ed Templeton, Rinus Van de Velde and Vincent van Gogh.

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A comprehensive overview of the oeuvre of Belgian painter Jan Van Imschoot A comprehensive overview of the oeuvre of Belgian painter Jan Van Imschoot (b. 1963), whose contemporary work builds bridges to predecessors such as Caravaggio, Tintoretto, Goya, and Manet. Van Imschoot’s painting consciously opts for a clear, sometimes contradictory and ironic style. The directness of his decisive brushwork and his balanced yet audacious use of color is strikingly contemporary, while his work draws on historical themes from literature and art history. In this way, Van Imschoot engages in a continuous dialogue with the past, in which he, with a dose of cynicism, often targets phenomena or figures that find themselves on the fringes of (contemporary) society. Bringing together more than 220 works by Van Imschoot with five accompanying texts, this book gives fresh insight into the painting practice of this Belgian master.Distributed for Mercatorfonds

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This compelling book is the result of a project intended to visually communicate the hardships endured by Iraqi communities. Utilizing art materials donated to camps by the Ruya Foundation for Contemporary Culture in Iraq, these 350 drawings were created by some of the country’s 1.8 million refugees, providing a necessary outlet for their immense suffering and struggles associated with being temporarily displaced from their vocations as lawyers, teachers, farmers, and mothers. Originally presented as an exhibition at the 2015 Venice Biennale, this publication features a large group of these drawings exclusively selected by the artist and activist Ai Weiwei. Harnessing the power of visual art as a means for both personal expression and socio-political awareness, this innovative book represents the humanistic effort to provide a voice for the underrepresented and their unimaginable strife.Mercatorfonds is donating all profits from the sale of this book to the refugee camps in Iraq.Distributed for Mercatorfonds

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A stunning tour through the renowned, wide-ranging collection of contemporary art at Ghent’s Municipal Museum for Contemporary Art (S.M.A.K.) The Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst (translated as the Municipal Museum of Contemporary Art and commonly abbreviated as S.M.A.K.), located in Ghent, Belgium, has quickly established a reputation for both a superlative permanent collection and provocative exhibitions since it opened to the public in 1999. The museum’s collection focuses on international developments in art after 1945, including works by artists such as Francis Alÿs, Francis Bacon, Joseph Beuys, Marcel Broodthaers, Luc Tuymans, and Bruce Nauman. S.M.A.K. Highlights for a Future showcases the full range and exceptional quality of the museum’s holdings, illustrating some 200 artworks, from well-known masterpieces to less-familiar, recent acquisitions.Distributed for Mercatorfonds

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