ECHOES HELMUT STALLAERTS MEETS THE ING COLLECTION

PRESS RELEASE
Brussels, 17 March 2015

19.3.2015 – 14.6.2015

From 19 March to 14 June 2015, ING Belgium presents an exhibition dedicated to the artist Helmut Stallaerts, 2013 Young Belgian Art Prize finalist and winner of the ING People's Choice Award.

The project, entitled "Echoes. Helmut Stallaerts meets the ING Collection", is the expression of an artistic dialogue forged by Stallaerts between his own paintings and sculptures and ING's collection of works by artists including Christian Boltanski, Anna and Bernhard Blume, Pat Steir, Tony Cragg, Nobuyoshi Araki, Jan Vercruysse, Richard Deacon, Alighiero e Boetti, Sol LeWitt, Mitja Tušek, Honoré Daumier, and Piet Mondrian.
These artistic echoes are created in various senses, on the basis of resonance, recall, complementarity and opposition, producing a visit which aims to reveal, little by little, something of the mystique of art.
The exhibition, which links around 30 paintings and sculptures by the young artist Helmut Stallaerts with some 60 works from the ING Belgium collection, will be held at the ING Art Center, Place Royale/Koningsplein 6, 1000 Brussels.

When Stallaerts – 2013 Young Belgian Art Prize finalist and winner of the ING People's Choice Award – toured the ING Belgium art collection, he quickly saw that his own work had resonances of several of those exhibited by ING and suggested the creation of a dialogue of echoes by bringing the two together. ING Belgium agreed to take up the challenge, and through close communication with the artist, produced an installation in the ING Art Center offering visitors an artistic experience rather than a conventional exhibition visit. Stallaerts has seen a rise to prominence since 2002 thanks to a good number of his works: His paintings, photographs, films and sculptures have been displayed at a wide range of exhibitions and art arenas such as the CAB Art Center, Brussels, La Maison Rouge, Paris and the Ibid Projects in London.

An intensive dialogue between ING Belgium and the artist was the starting point for the creative process of curation that followed. The two curators have an anti-conformist, non-authoritarian and non-rational approach to art, allowing visitors to reconnect with the idea of an individual artistic experience, and pushing back the boundaries of the perception of works of art, as being too confined within cognitive dogmatisms.

Favouring intuitive associations and the organic process of finding resonances between the works led the curators to conclude that the group of works were an asset to the community, that they belonged to everyone, and that they contributed added intangible value to society in particular. The ideas underpinning works of art reach far beyond the notion of property, belonging ultimately to the idea of absolute generosity. This observation was the impetus for the title of the livre d'artiste published for this occasion: "Echoes – Common Grounds, Common Good"

In the creation of his works, Helmut Stallaerts immerses himself in film, literature and philosophy, as well as the current political and socio-economic context. For this reason, he also solicited a number of artists to echo his own work by composing a piece of music, writing a poem or creating a vidéo d'artiste for the exhibition. The programme of activities is wide-ranging in this respect and includes appearances by a DJ and guest speakers. Personalities including Professor Dirk De Wachter and Pierre-Olivier Rollin have also been invited to lend their voice to the event. What has been designed is a free space, prompting the visitor to depart from the present reality. By watching the video created for the exhibition by the artist Chloë Delanghe, which is heavily influenced by the films of David Lynch, the visitor is invited to journey into this realm. Lynch himself is aware of the significant influence of the "Lynchian" visual language in Stallaerts' work, and therefore agreed to the creation of this reflection on his films. Pointers written by current poets such as Peter Verhelst complement and guide the visitor's thoughts, heightening emotional reactions to the discoveries made.

The association continues as the works of Helmut Stallaerts come together with works of the ING Belgium collection, which includes Christian Boltanski, Anna and Bernhard Blume, Pat Steir, Tony Cragg, Alighiero e Boetti, Nobuyoshi Araki, Jan Vercruysse, Richard Deacon, Sol LeWitt, Mitja Tušek, Honoré Daumier and Piet Mondrian. The organisers arrange the dialogues when one work echoes another in terms of resonance in substance, recall, complementarity or opposition. In this way, the works gradually relinquish a little of their mystique. It is for the viewer to study the work and become part of the equation by entering into a three-way symbiotic relationship. This relationship will always be unique, as the visitor's receptive capacity will be conditioned by past experiences as well as present mood.

In the face of tensions arising from a society of information saturation, this association makes us sense the essence of existential problems, both current and universal, and of a contemporary society in constant flux, pinpointing this predominant feeling of unease found in every sensitive individual. The visitor, through this series of mutually-echoing works, may be able to find a solution using this sensitivity as a tool to achieve awareness of what is around us. "Green" zones of liberty where one can breathe freely and see everything upside down, so to speak, appear to constitute responses providing an escape from decline, loss, accidents, disorder, conventions or stereotypical institutions, for example.

The route through the exhibition is not prescribed. As in the films by David Lynch which have both fascinated and inspired Helmut Stallaerts, the visitor is in a labyrinth where there is no single solution but several – and where a change of direction is possible at any time. Everywhere is a perpetual new beginning, as if it were a Moebius strip. Thus the artist himself becomes a figure permitted to doubt or even to be unaware of reality, transforming himself into a conduit towards a world devoid of conventions and free from all authority.

This exhibition is for any person who takes a moment to step back, to feel and communicate using their body, mind and every one of their senses. And this "non-exhibition" can be visited over and over again: Every visit promises fresh revelations, and every visit brings a balance back into our lives.

Curators

• Belgian artist Helmut Stallaerts, 32, Young Belgian Art Prize finalist in 2013 and winner of the ING People's Choice Award

• Patricia De Peuter, Senior Art Advisor, Head of Art Management ING Belgium

Some More Echoes in the ING Art Center

Free admission to the exhibition and performances!

Wednesdays 25 March, 20 May and 11 June 2015, from 7 p.m. to 8.30 p.m.
DJ Mat Stellar will perform at the exhibition
Musical echoes selected by Helmut Stallaerts and DJ Mat Stellar

Wednesday 1 April 2015, 7 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Meet and greet with Helmut Stallaerts
Guided tour of the exhibition by Helmut Stallaerts (in English and Dutch)

Wednesday 8 April 2015, 7 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Echoes. Common Grounds, Common Goods
Guided tour of the exhibition by Professor Dirk De Wachter, psychiatrist from KU Leuven (in English and Dutch)

Saturday 25 April 2015, 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Late opening on the occasion of Art Brussels 2015
Meet and greet with Albert Baronian, Wolfgang Schoppmann and Tanguy Eeckhout (in English, French and Dutch)
DJ Mat Stellar will also perform at the exhibition.

Wednesday 6 May 2015, 7 p.m. to 8 p.m.
The Legacy of David Lynch
Conference by Dominique Païni, Director of the Cinémathèque Française 1990-2000 and film critic (in French)
Presentation of the video Editing Lynch by Chloë Delanghe (in English)

Wednesday 13 May 2015, 7 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Literary and musical echoes; personal commentary on the exhibition
Guided tour of the exhibition by Pierre-Olivier Rollin, Director of B.P.S. 22, Charleroi (in French)

Wednesday 27 May 2015, 7 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Curatorial Echoes on the exhibition
Guided tour of the exhibition by Elisabetta Rabajoli, independent curator in London (in English)

Practical Information

Dates and opening times

From 19 March to 14 June 2015.
Open Tuesday to Sunday, including bank holidays.
Also open Monday 6 April and Monday 25 May Times: 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Evening visits every Wednesday until 9 p.m.

ING Art Center

Mont des Arts/Kunstberg,
Place Royale/Koningsplein 6
1000 Brussels

Access

Train: Brussels Central Station
Bus: 27, 38, 71, 95 ‘Royale’ stop
Tram: 92, 93, ‘Royale’ stop

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For further information:
ING Belgium press office on + 32 2 547 22 94, pressoffice@ing.be