Within the scope of 2018, year of protest, the City of Brussels celebrates the fiftieth anniversary of 1968, a period marked by disruptions and multiple challenges but that remains emblematic for arts and society alike. On the occasion of the ambitious project entitled RESISTANCE, CENTRALE for contemporary arts fulfils its mission as public arts centre and focuses on the ways in which art used and pursued the many society and political challenges that rocked the past half-century.

EXPO

Using a thematic approach, the exhibition studies how contestation and resistance fall within a body of artworks. Instigating a dialogue between historical works from 1968 and contemporary pieces by Belgian and international artists, the show reflects on the huge gateway that opened during that era and that remains connected to contemporary art.

From 1968 to 2018, some artists chose to resist the diktats of the art world and to point the flaws that jeopardize the very foundations of our media-hungry societies. Paradoxically, art drew all its strength from the many resistances and protests imprinted in these art works…

The exhibition sheds light on works stemming from a practice of relations broadened to the world, which use unconventional materials and media and that are all animated by a burning desire for action at the heart of the community. A practice founded on firm beliefs that converge with major collective issues such as personal freedom, feminism, globalisation, the environment.

At the core of the show, the role of artists unfurls as the key player of a revolutionary thought, somewhere between resistance and protest.

Full programme

Curator: Maïté Vissault

OPEN ACADEMY

During the exhibition, CENTRALE will turn into an OPEN ACADEMY for teachers and students from different Brussels art schools and will thus offer a platform to artists, thinkers, students and the audience, a place for debates and encounters. Together they analyze and highlight the themes of student and worker uprisings that have unfolded in a pluriform protest by all authorities in May 68. They explore the causes of the movement to gauge the protest of today and tomorrow. The public will discover this open laboratory, consisting of the prospective work and the artistic work of the students. In addition, a cycle of lectures, performances and screenings is also organized.

Full programme

Artistic concept: Carine Fol in partnership with : ARBA / ISAC / CARE, La Cambre, LUCA School of Arts, RITCS

(c) Guerrilla Girls

Private Choices lifts the veil on a significant aspect of art: contemporary art collections and its initiators, the art lovers. The latter play an increasingly important role in the constantly growing art world and, in the era of disproportionate commercialisation and globalisation of the art market, these passionate people invest time and money in contemporary creation, often lavishly.

This project sheds light on 11 Brussels collections including works by Belgian and international artists, both confirmed and emerging, in an attempt at showcasing the specificity of each one. Through a selection process carried out hand in hand with the collectors, we discover a facet of their vision of art and life.

Carine Fol, art director at the CENTRALE and curator of the Private Choices show confides:
I experienced a fascinating journey as I went on the discovery of works, collections and the many fascinating personalities behind them. From kitchen to dining room, from bedroom to entrance hall, each room tells a story through dialogues between the works. Consciously or unconsciously, each collector gives sense to the work inside her/his universe. Whether these collections are methodical, intuitive, secretive or shared, they all tell a private story: the tale of the collector who found them, the acquisition, and the (mental and physical) proximity of works that feeds their lives. Constantly mutating and endlessly growing, their collection gives them energy, motivation to travel, to question their choices, sometimes beyond reason…

From the first to the last piece (personal tastes change whether one is 20, 40 or 60), all these works testify of the commitment towards an artist and her/his creation, confirming that collecting means staying alive all the while stirring certainties, unsettling and questioning the complexity of creation and its ties to the world. A collection reveals the collector insofar as collecting is a personal activity, a work onto oneself that allows the collector to look at the world differently in an aim of discerning its inconsistencies.

In addition to a 200 or so artworks, spectators will discover a selection of books, a piece of music and an interview of the collector who will introduce the universe of each artist.

COLLECTIONS

Collection R.PATT	A surrealistic cabinet With works of Jean-Michel Alberola • anonyme • Stephan Balleux • Manon Bara • Enrico Bay & J. De Jong • Pascal Bernier • André Breton • Frank Castelijns • Sébastien Delvaux • Dialogist-Kantor • Takahiro Kudo • Leo Dohmen • Jiri Georg Dokoupil • Lou Dubois • Marcel Duchamp • Jane Graverol • Jean Harlez • Caroline le Méhauté • René Magritte • Man Ray • Marcel Mariën • Billie Mertens • E.L.T Mesens • Claus Otto Paeffgen • Zoé Paternoster • Laurence Skivée • André Stas • Christophe Terlinden • Emmanuel Tête • Marcel Vandeweyer
Collection Frédéric de Goldschmidt	Eulogy of white With works of Sarah Bostwick & Jim Campbell • Michel François • Marcius Galan • Theaster Gates • Nadia Guerroui • Aniceto Exposito López • Piero Manzoni • Vincent Meessen • Otto Piene • Diogo Pimentao • Sebastião Salgado • Cy Twombly
Collection BC	Harmony and intensity With works of Korakrit Arunanondchai • Kader Attia • Louise Bourgeois • Thierry De Cordier • Andrès Serrano • Miguel Rio Branco • Bill Viola
Collection Nicole et Olivier G.	Creation close to social commitment With works of Brigida Baltar • Stephen Brandes • Vincen Beeckman • Marie José Burki • Detanico & Lain • Simon Faithfull • Aurélien Froment • Hamza Halloubi • Ane Mette Hol • Olga Kisseleva • Michaël Matthys • Léa Mayer • Tom Molloy • Simon Nicaise • Joëlle Tuerlinckx • Regina Viserius • Royal Art Lodge • Marc Wendelski
Collection C2	To Life, to Death With works of Francis Alÿs • Wim Delvoye • Jan Fabre • Michel François • Damien Hirst • Jeff Ladouceur • Sophie Langohr • Kris Martin • Yoshitomo Nara • Fabrice Samyn • Freddy Tsimba
Collection Veys-Verhaevert	The Invisible Collection With works of Stefan Brüggemann • Marc Buchy • Elisabeth S. Clark • Edith Dekyndt • Detanico & Lain • Aurélien Froment • Mario Garcia Torres • Cristina Garrido • Pierre Gerard • gerlach en koop • Guðný Rósa Ingimarsdóttir • Florian Kiniques • Benoît Maire • Roman Ondàk • Pratchaya Phinthong • Pep Vidal • Oriol Vilanova
Collection Yolande De Bontridder	From artist to work With works of Isabel Baraona • Jeanine Cohen • Anne De Gelas • Edith Dekyndt • Nils Dieu • Lise Duclaux • Jo Delahaut • Inci Eviner • Bernard Gaube • Jef Geys • Jean Glibert • Bénédicte Henderick • Guðný Rósa Ingimarsdóttir • Elliot Kervyn • Solange Knopf • Nicolás Lamas • Valérie Mannaerts • Els Opsomer • Tinka Pittoors • Benoît Platéus • Jonathan Sullam • Yoann Van Parys • Richard Venlet & Danny Venlet • Ann Vester
Collection Famille Servais	Art as the reflect of human nature With works of Apparatus 22 • Carlos Aires • Dieter Appelt • Roger Ballen • Nick Cave • Regina Galindo • Nan Goldin • Daniel Gordon • Ryan Trecartin & Lizzie Fitch • Emmanuel Van der Auwera • Corinne Vionnet • Jérôme Zonder
Collection Galila	“De rien” | ‘Out of Nothing’ With works of Boris Dennier • Michael Johansson • Gonçalo Mabunda • Chema Madoz • Issey Miyake • Rachel Perry Welty • Bernard Pras • Frank Schreiner • Tobias Sternberg • David Taborn • Pascal Tassini • Hiroko Tsuchida • Joep van Liefland • Daniel Von Weinberger
Vanhaerents Art Collection	Once upon a time… With works of Tracey Moffatt • Paul Pfeiffer • Jason Rhoades • Francesco Vezzoli
Collection 1987	In Osmosis With works of Nel Aerts • David Altmejd • Andreas Blank • Jemima Burrill • Johan Creten • Lili Dujourie • Jochen Höller • Jürgen Klauke • Abigail Lane • Marlène Mocquet • Charles Sandison • Nedko Solakov • Daniel Spoerri

During the exhibition, visits will be organised to discover the collections of Walter Vanhaerents, Frédéric de Goldschmidt and Alain Servais.