Download press release as PDF document in Dutch or English.
1 HOUSE (hammertime)
Wannes Goetschalckx

Open: December 15 — January 25, 2014
Opening + performance: Sunday 15.12.2013, 16:00

What would you take with you to a desert island? Is it possible to survive without the conveniences and luxury of a Western country? How close are we to nature these days? Wannes Goetschalckx is an artist who is always trying to shift his boundaries, and is always creating possibilities and connections that we would not be able to observe immediately. For instance, two years ago he made a toothpick out of a huge tree-trunk weighing 4.5 tons. He did not use any machines; he made the colossus into the toothpick with a hammer and chisel. In addition, as his final work for the Higher Institute for Fine Arts (HISK), he once created an island in his studio on which he stayed during the exhibition, together with a rabbit and some birds. For his very first exhibition at West, in September 2007, Goetschalckx built a large wooden ‘ship’ in the gallery room, making the link – in a performance – with the premises’ location on a canal.

A performance forms the major part of many installations by Goetschalckx. With these performances, he researches physical and mental challenges, thus creating a direct link between man and nature. He seems to make a plea for ‘slow living’, with more attention to the world around us as a major issue. In tandem, these artificially made worlds reveal an inner struggle that will be recognizable to almost everyone.

Goetschalckx is capable of stepping out of the ‘rapid’ current world and working for 5 months on making one drawing, which could probably have been produced on a computer in one afternoon. The self-developed craftsmanship and love for natural materials is obvious in all this.

For West, he has created seven new works, all of them in the context of ‘removal hominess’. These will be on show in combination with the videos ‘Toothpick’ (2012) and ‘One to tree’ (2010). During the opening, he will give a performance in which he demonstrates how the limitations of the human mind influence the body.

Wannes Goetschalckx (1978, Zoersel, BE) has successfully completed his training at the Higher Institute for fine arts (HISK) and previously had exhibitions at: Tate Liverpool; Casino Luxembourg; Stuk; Museum M, Leuven and many other places.

We are pleased to invite you to the exhibition 1 House at West — enter at your own risk!