09 december 2022, Flor Linckens
Explore your discomfort in DMW Gallery
Until 17 December, DMW Gallery in Antwerp is presenting the group exhibition 'Je t'emb(ar)rasse', a title that changes meaning from 'I kiss you' to 'I embarrass you', depending on the brackets. The exhibition poster gives visitors two clear instructions “to gracefully embarrass yourself”: leave some room for reflection and don't take yourself too seriously.
The exhibition was curated by art historian Tamara Beheydt, who regularly writes about art in publications such as H ART Magazine and De Tijd. In this exhibition she introduces a series of artworks that refer directly or indirectly to the broad spectrum of discomfort. Many of the participating artists are millennials (1980-1996), who are regularly counted among the most awkward generation. Beheydt examines various aspects of this discomfort, from the physical and emotional to the psychological aspect. In the exhibitio,n it manifests itself in works that are playful, irrational and absurd, but sometimes also painful and in all cases intensely human. They talk about shame, unwritten social rules or boundaries, misunderstanding or sexual desire.
In 'Je t'emb(ar)rasse' you can see a series of artistic memes by the Belgian artist Marijke De Roover. It's unfair to simply dismiss memes as funny pictures on the internet; rather they are visual documents that say something about our society and can actually bring about social change. Researchers at the HVA recently published a second Critical Meme Reader, in which the cultural importance of memes is explored. De Roover draws on a multitude of sources for her practice: from feminist and queer theory to popular culture, romantic comedies, mental health and opera. In her works she shows a humorous yet somewhat cynical and semi-autobiographical representation of her frustrating experiences as a queer woman within a heteronormative and male-oriented society. The titles of her works are often awkward and funny in equal measure. This exhibition shows, among other things, the works 'once i was early for therapy and had to wait outside the house so i started singing “don't rain on my parade ” and my therapist came out to ask if I was ok' and 'falling asleep with my vibrator on so it rocks me to sleep'. De Roover's work was on display in Museum De Pont in 2020 and the year before that during a performance in the David Roberts Art Foundation during Frieze Week in London.
The Flemish artist Vaast Colson is known for his action artworks that question art as a medium in different ways. So far he has made thousands of actions and performances. In this exhibition, he shows two works that, in their pushing of boundaries, seem to refer to the cans of poop by the Italian artist Piero Manzoni. Colson, however, uses a different form of bodily excretion here: semen.
Messieurs Delmotte also seeks out the discomfort and shows in the exhibition, among other things, the drawing 'Tinder Surprise', from his Fake Drawings series. The K in Kinder Surprise has been exchanged for a T here and the Kinder Egg is accompanied by the text “sex surprise inside!?”.
Charlot Van Geert presents a sculpture that visualises the discomfort of visiting someone who's sick. In 'A Speedy Recovery' we see a fruit basket on a table, executed in black bronze. If you were to visualise awkwardness, the cringey shapes of the table would come very close.
