With The End Is Near, Joost Pauwaert is the first artist to occupy both BARBÉ spaces: a gesture that evidently rhymes with the grandeur of the triumphal march that kicks off the exhibition.
On 26 October, Pauwaert reintroduces the cultural-historical phenomenon of the Joyous Entry, which has fallen into oblivion in past centuries. These processions, specific to our region since the Middle Ages, were ceremonial festivities celebrating the arrival of ruling monarchs to a city. Pauwaert’s parade, which marches through the inner city of Ghent, pays tribute to the collective excitement generated by the Entries. It also pays tribute to a tradition that was not only political, but also culturally important: the very best artists, architects, musicians and actors were called in to liven up the march and decorate the festivities. Pauwaert breathes new life into the practice of the entry as a moment for artistic expression.
For his Entry in Gent, Pauwaert draws inspiration from various types of processions and parades from the past and present, from here and abroad: a Napoleonic military parade thus follows a Palestinian funerary procession, respectively drawing on his profound fascination with Napoleon on the one hand and his experience as a war photographer in Palestine on the other. Common denominator in this ecclectic, colourful mishmash of traditions is the tension and turmoil, the enthusiasm and agitation they bring forth. Apocalyptic symbols and surreal elements heighten the bewilderment: emergency bells ring, cannons are pushed forward, a piano hangs precariously dangling while schoolchildren with fluorescent jackets and flags provide scenes of joy. Pauwaert plays with the tension between celebration and display of power, between the military and the poetic, that so typifies the Joyous Entry. The contrast between childlike playfulness and the threat of violence is both humorous and wry. With the topical title The End Is Near, Pauwaert leaves little to the imagination: we are celebrating the end of times here.
Pauwaert creates a grand event in which an arsenal of meanings is compressed. Following the end of the procession, these meanings unfold into autonomous moments, into sculptural relics that are exhibited in the gallery spaces. Here, different layers of meaning that are found in the Entry are further dissected and explored. Thus, Pauwaert’s three-year quest for the perfect mushroom cloud symbolises the sometimes bitter union of beauty and destruction, of sublime power and human suffering. Pauwaert’s multimedial work invites deep reflection on the visual and emotional impact of apocalyptic imagery.
By Gertjan Oskar