Berlinde De Bruyckere The Embalmer

KUB 2015.02 | Press release
Berlinde
De Bruyckere
The Embalmer
18 | 04 – 05 | 07 | 2015
An Exhibition at two Venues
in Cooperation with Kunstraum Dornbirn
Curators of the exhibition
Rudolf Sagmeister (Kunsthaus Bregenz) and
Thomas Häusle (Kunstraum Dornbirn)
Press Conference
Wednesday, April 15, 2015, 10.30 a.m.
Opening Kunstraum Dornbirn
Thursday, April 16, 2015, 8 p.m.
Opening Kunsthaus Bregenz
Friday, April 17, 2015, 7 p.m.
Berlinde De Bruyckere (born 1964 in Ghent) has risen to
prominence through numerous exhibitions, in Montreal,
Melbourne, Istanbul, Bern, Graz, and Ghent, amongst other
places. In 2013 she staged the Belgian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale. The artist employs casts from wax and artificial resin, animal hides, metal, wood, and fabric in her
sculptures. Her works open up multiple references to art
historical traditions, and Christian and mythological subject
matter.
The exhibition The Embalmer in cooperation with Kunstraum Dornbirn has been conceived as an exhibition for
two venues. A large-scale installation of Berlinde De
Bruyckere’s new horse sculptures will be on display at
Kunstraum Dornbirn concurrently to the presentation at
Kunsthaus Bregenz, which will include sculptures, installations, drawings, and collages.
Sculptures from the series Liggende and Actaeon and drawings from the series Romeu ‘my deer‘ complement and
reinforce each other on the first floor of Kunsthaus Bregenz. According to Greek mythology, Actaeon came across
the goddess Diana bathing. As a punishment, Diana transformed him into a deer which was subsequently torn apart
by his own dogs. Together with the dancer Romeu Runa,
De Bruyckere has developed drawings and a dance performance addressing this subject for Kunsthaus Bregenz.
For Actaeon, wax antlers bundled in piles lie on wooden
plinths, as do the sculptures Liggende I and Liggende II,
modeled on human bodies, evoking pathology tables,
victims, or the body of Christ.
The second floor, dominated by the large-scale work
Kreupelhout|Cripplewood which debuted at the Belgian
Pavilion of the Biennale di Venezia 2013, was inspired by
the crown of a gigantic elm, felled during a storm. Wounds,
scars, and arteries translucent beneath the bark, transform
the tree into a being between human, animal, and plant.
For the third floor the artist has produced a completely
new group of works of stacked animal hides from wax,
polyester, and iron. This work was preceded by the artist’s
intense observations of the processing of animal hides in a
Brussels slaughterhouse. De Bruyckere has concurrently
developed a stage set for the piece Penthesilea, a composition by Pascal Dusapin based on Heinrich von Kleist, for
the La Monnaie opera house in Brussels.
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Berlinde De Bruyckere — The Embalmer
at Kunsthaus Bregenz
18 | 04 —05 | 07 | 2015
Exhibition Opening: Friday, April 17, 2015 | 7 p.m.
Berlinde De Bruyckere — The Embalmer
at Kunstraum Dornbirn
17 | 04 — 05 | 07 | 2015
Exhibition Opening: Thursday, April 16, 2015 | 8 p.m.
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KUB Billboards
Berlinde De Bruyckere
07 | 04 – 05 | 07 | 2015
Seestraße Bregenz
Berlinde De Bruyckere, working with her long-term
photographer Mirjam Devriendt, will be staging six of her
most significant works for KUB Billboards. The images will
also be on display in the exhibition The Embalmer at
Kunsthaus Bregenz.
Details from such key works as Liggende I, 2011—2012, or
Kreupelhout|Cripplewood, 2012—2013, transport the show
from the sheltered environment of Kunsthaus Bregenz to an
open-air location along the busy Seestraße.
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Publication
Berlinde De Bruyckere
The Embalmer
The catalogue accompanies the exhibition The Embalmer,
whose displays at Kunsthaus Bregenz and Kunstraum
Dornbirn will be focusing on different aspects of the work.
Thomas Häusle, Kunstraum Dornbirn’s curator, addresses in
particular the horse objects being presented there. The
installation exhibits the Belgian artist’s impressively
implemented confrontation with death and destruction
as well as the sublime dignity and beauty of the creature
itself. Against the backdrop of the major works
Kreupelhout|Cripplewood and Actaeon on display at the
Kunsthaus, curator Rudolf Sagmeister will be examining
De Bruyckere’s position within art history, together with
her proximity to motifs from Christian iconography and
Dutch Baroque painting. In addition, and in cooperation
with the artist, selected articles and letters by
De Bruyckere are being published in the catalogue for the
first time, which beyond her major works address the
subject of metamorphosis, the motive supplying
fundamental inspiration to her output. The exhibition’s two
venues will be comprehensively documented by numerous
installation views.
Berlinde De Bruyckere
The Embalmer
Edited by Kunsthaus Bregenz and Kunstraum Dornbirn;
With contributions by J.M. Coetzee, Berlinde De Bruyckere,
Benjamin Delmotte, Caroline Lamarche, Thomas Häusle,
Herta Pümpel, and Rudolf Sagmeister
Graphic design: Bernd Altenried, Stefan Gassner
German|English,
approx. 160 pages, 22 x 29.8 cm,
Hardcover
Date of publication: June 2015
42.- EUR
KUB Online-Shop
www.kunsthaus-bregenz.at
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KUB Artist’s Editions
Berlinde De Bruyckere
Zonder Titel, 2001—2002
For the edition Zonder Titel, 2001—2002 on the occasion of
her exhibition at Kunsthaus Bregenz, Berlinde De Bruyckere
has returned to a motif that has permeated her graphic
work since 2001. Against a parchment colored background a
profile emerges, a tender only vaguely visible half figure
portrait. Hair falling across the head and upper body, indicated in black strokes of the pencil, conceals the face, merely hinting at its eyes and contours. The portrait’s aloofness
is countered by the coloring and graphic delicacy of the
drawing, achieving a mysteriously graceful balance.
Zonder Titel, 2001—2002, 2015
Pigment print
Limited edition of 80 prints + 10 A.P.,
signed and numbered;
1,500 EUR including 10% VAT,
plus shipping, custom duties, and packing costs
Please contact
Caroline Schneider-Dürr
[email protected]
Phone +43-5574-485 94-444
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Biography
Berlinde De Bruyckere
Since her first exhibition in the mid-eighties,
De Bruyckere’s sculptures and drawings have been the
subject of numerous exhibitions in major institutions
worldwide. Recent exhibitions include S.M.A.K. Ghent, Belgium (2014); Kunsthaus Graz, Austria (2013); Museum De
Pont, Tilburg, Netherlands (2012) as well as La Maison
Rouge – Fondation Antoine de Galbert, Paris, France
(2014); Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne, Australia (2012); ARTWE – Space for Art, Istanbul,
Turkey (2012); Kunstmuseum Moritzburg, Halle, Germany,
and Kunstmuseum Bern, Switzerland (2011).
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Partner and Sponsors
Kunsthaus Bregenz would like to thank its partners
for their generous financial support and
the cultural commitment that goes along with it.
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Kunsthaus Bregenz
Director | Chief Curator
from May 2015 Thomas D. Trummer
Chief Executive
Werner Döring
Curator
Rudolf Sagmeister
Curator of the KUB Arena
Eva Birkenstock
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