Intra_Extra

The exhibition Intra_Extra questions boundaries, walls, and conceptual dividing lines between nature and culture, and explores what falls inside or outside these definitions.

In this exhibition, thirteen artists present intra muros works, entering into dialogue with the genius loci of the space itself and with the other works in A-Space. At the same time, these artists step beyond the limits of these safe walls and intersect the daily flow of the city. This extra muros parcours unfolds as a promenade d’art through district 2060, where the works are displayed in the windows of our chambres d’amis. This neighborhood, Antwerp North, lies outside the former city walls. Where there was once a marshland, an exhibition now rises that evokes the spectres of this submerged landscape, as seen in the work of Max Denys, Carl Verdickt, and Nina-Joy Thielemans.

This landscape has become urban, with remnants and traces of the past still visible here and there. According to several artists, boundaries are an illusion, and it is precisely in reflecting on these forgotten residual spaces that we find many answers to broader societal questions. Some works reveal the tension surrounding the constructed dichotomy between nature and culture by creating literal dividing lines within the work itself and fragmenting images with physical in-between spaces. Other artists transform maps, ground plans, and streets to forge pathways through urbanized nature: maps are redefined to construct new landscapes; street names are erased and replaced with plant names; walls are dismantled stone by stone to allow new walking paths to emerge straight through them.

We may ask whether a clear line between nature and culture truly exists, or whether the ancient idea that everything is one might offer a restorative vision and solution for our time. Can humans and nature really be separated? Plein air artists place their own bodies within nature during the creation of their work, and, without aligning themselves with the Impressionists, light becomes almost as important as the medium.

Other artists instead anthropomorphize nature, humanizing flora and allowing body and nature to merge within their work. This can be extended conceptually to infinity. Even everything we label as ‘unnatural’ may be considered an organic extension of human nature, where electronics become organic. All electrical cables worldwide can thus be seen as a kind of mycelium network that connects us all, in which we may be regarded as the leaves of a constructed tree.

The tactile quality of materials runs like a red thread throughout the exhibition. At times it feels alien, as if from another planet, while in other works humble and modest materials such as clay and wood seem to originate from our own regions. They are discovered, collected, and gathered like archaeological objects, to be activated by the artist’s hand and brought together in this exhibition.

Yirka De Brucker