1080 Bruxelles
What comes after damaged landscapes? Where do we build our futures on? And with whom?
In her poem End and Beginning, the Polish Nobel Laureate Wisława Szymborska, describing a barren landscape in the aftermath of war, weaves a narrative of resilience, reflection, and hope. Reflecting on the struggles for renewal, healing and collective responsibility her words carry a diachronic significance. Although referring to a specific conflict, her verses hold a frightening and unfortunate universal validity making her call for communal action, empathy, and care more relevant than ever. Inspired by Szymborska’s reflection on the collapse of ideologies, the relentless passage of time and history, and the irreversible decay of the past along with everything that comes with it, iMAL wonders: How would a future built on empathy and collective care look like?
Challenging long-held notions of human singularity, excessive progress, and growth Fin et début / Einde en begin redefines the notion of care as an ecological and relational structure; as a polyphonic assemblage of shared existence between human, nature and technology. Embarking on an exploratory journey into alternative systems of care between humans and non-human entities, this exhibition offers a place of transformative encounters fostering self-reflection and re-imagination of the infinite possibilities of our shared futures.
Curated as an intricate narrative of care, the exhibition unfolds across three interconnected circles: Care for Humans, Care for Nature and Care for Technology. The exhibition presents 11 works produced within the European Media Arts Platform (EMAP) residency program and 4 recent productions by Belgium-based artists. Their encounter offers space for reflection and reconsideration of formative societal infrastructures such as labour, communal practices, energy consumption and highlights the vitality for inter-species knowledge exchange and the importance of empathy for humans and other-than-human entities through diverse lenses. By giving agency to and drawing connections between underrepresented voices and alternative perspectives—be they human, artificial, natural, or imaginative—the exhibition invites the public to take a step towards unexplored territories of our shared futures and reimagine resilient collective ecosystems rooted in multispecies cooperation.
Here, “everything is intelligent and worthy of our care and conscious attention.” (James Bridle, Ways of Being)
ARTISTS
Annelie Berner
Johanna Bruckner
Nicolas Gourault
Darsha Hewitt
Dasha Ilina
Rosa Menkman
Vivien Roubaud
Caroline Sinders (en collaboration avec Trammell Hudson)
Studio Above & Below
Endi Tupja (en collaboration avec Klodianna Millona)
T(n)C
Total Refusal
Ava Zevop
Alex Verhaest
PROGRAMME PARALLÈLE
Barbara C. Branco
Crew
Darsha Hewitt
Gala Hernández López
Fleur Melbourn
Total Refusal
… et bien d’autres
Works in exhibition supported / Produced by The European Media Arts Platform:
