Inauguration of the artwork Into the Palm the Birds by Mehdi-Georges Lahlou
08.09.2023, 16:30 > 18:00
GC De Vaartkapoen: Rue Saint-Joseph 14, 1080 Molenbeek-Saint-Jean
De Vaartkapoen invites you to the inauguration of Into the Palm the Birds, an artwork by Mehdi-Georges Lahlou. Meet the artist and his work with music, snacks and drinks.
About the artwork:
Permanent public installation for the public space – BRUSSELS (Molenbeek-Saint-Jean) by the Vlaamse Gemeenschapscommissie (VGC)
Into the Palm the Birds – 2023
Circa 750 x ø 140 cm
stainless steel, sound
Mehdi-Georges combines sculpture, sound, and light to engage the diverse community of Sint-Jans-Molenbeek. The work is a place of magic and contemplation activated by a chorus of sounds, songs, and music produced within Molenbeek itself. The physical structure is in the shape of a hollow palm tree with one entrance with a bench inside for people to sit and rest. The palm tree is central to this project and it is a motif that Mehdi-Georges has returned to throughout his career. As a motif, the palm suggests warmth invoking the hot, yellow rays of the sun whether encountered on a cold winter day or a rainy night, inviting people to be transported away from their current position to an enchanted elsewhere. The palm tree is one of the oldest plant species and is adaptable to a wide range of climates.
This work by Mehdi-Georges Lahlou is based on the representation of this plant in the collective imagination, which suggests the exotic, an oasis. Here, the image of a cut palm tree may also evokes deforestation and the effects of globalisation.
The true magic of the piece, however, will be the sound-quotidian noises such as the laughter, exclamations of children, and people singing layered with birdsongs-that engulfs those who enter the structure.
Throughout time and space, birds have persistently been used in literature and the arts to represent people as we can read in La Conférence des oiseaux, a Persian poem written by Farid al-Din Attär in 1177. They suggest beauty and individuality, but also migration and collectivity.
As part of the exhibition Mehdi-Georges Lahou & guest Candice Breitz – extra
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