Roger Claessens at Tempus Arti

fifth edition of the triennial Tempus Arti

Multi-discplinary artist Roger Claessens brings up social, cultural, economic, political, historical problems but leaves the interpretation to the spectator.

The opening of the Tempus Arti art tour was at the cold store of BFV (Belgian Fruit Auction) which is empty just before the harvest season.
Two of these cold rooms were the perfect setting for two of his works:

Roger Claessens - Cornelius Gross Last Meal

"On Wednesday 23 February 2000, Cornelius Gross, 38, was executed at the Walls Unit in Texas USA for beating a man to death with a board during a 1987 burglary"

The fact that a man who is hours before his death would choose fruit as his last meal, and not oysters or caviar for example, made an impression on Roger Claessens.  The man wanted to die with the taste of pure nature.  And doesn't fruit refer to paradise?

in the second cold room a video is projected showing a snowy landscape...

Roger Claessens - too far to feel emotions

a link to the short video on Youtube HERE

on another location...

Roger Claessens - stil-leven (still-life)

sorry for the poor quality of the picture, it was taken from behind glass

Roger Claessens - What if God is a fish

in the former army barracks more work...

in the last room I suddenly come across a long row of pictures of an installation I've seen. 

Roger Claessens - United Battlefield Cemetery, Victims of Fate

This installation moved me deeply... a link to the post on that HERE

Thank you Roger Claessens for your kind and moving explanation on your work during the opening.  It was very nice meeting you.

more posts on Tempus Arti : click label below

Maria Lucia Cruz Correia at Tempus Arti

the fifth edition of the triennial Tempus Arti opened last sunday with a great performance

Maria Lucia Cruz Correia (Portugal)
from nature to nature

a barren field...

12 silent figures are half burried, they seem to 'grow' on the field

in front of each individual a pile of apples which they slowly eat in silence

a striking performance ... persons reduced as plants fed by nature

Life is the icon of survival and nature is the icon of life.

the artist Maria Lucia Cruz Correia

performance, installations, public interventions, activism

www.luciartwork.blogspot.com

Tempus Arti

until 16 September 2012

Landen - Linter - Zoutleeuw

Belgium

related posts

Tempus Arti - previous and present

Mels Dees - Wolkenampel

traffic light for clouds

12 meters high working traffic light is placed in a natural reserve 'Het Vinne', the only natural lake in Flanders.

The rational element of a traffic light doesn't cooperate with the natural freedom of nature.

Mels Dees (Netherlands)

part of Tempus Arti triennial art route this summer

36 international artists - interaction between local environment and art installations.

posts on Tempus Arti via this LINK.

Sofie Vangor at Tempus Arti

Location : a tall old watermill that - because of the use of the colours - looks like a dollshouse... it is inhabited by tiny little people...

... with endless stairs spiralling upwards to the top.

Looking down, and we've not even reached the upper level yet.

There is one level higher up but it is closed to the public.

So, now that we are here ... where is the artwork?

All over the building, from top to bottom, are teeny weeny little shelves with teeny weeny little people cut out from very old photographs.

Sofie Vangor creates intimate scenes where the people pictured come back to life, she brings them into the present.

There are so many of them one would like to invent a story to assemble the different scenes into a storyboard or picture novel.

The picture below is just to show the size of the artworks.

I could not find a personal website of Sofie Vangor, but HERE is more of her artwork.

part of Tempus Arti triennial art route this summer

36 international artists - interaction between local environment and art installations.

posts on Tempus Arti via this LINK.

Maria Kapteijns & Valentijn Dijkmeijer - Leap in the Deep

Sprong in het diepe

Location : a neglected army site in the midst of the fields; an abandonned subterranean water reservoir that used to provide water for the fire brigade.

The space is in complete darkness, the picture below was taken with a flash, only then was it visible of how the room looked like.

In the partitions between the concrete beams are frames. The frames will light up one after the other following the movement of persons jumping into a void.

Almost impossible to capture with my type of camera the pictures are of poor quality, but I was quite impressed with the feeling of this dark space (the pictures show more details of the building than actually visible in reality).

www.mariakapteijns.nl


part of Tempus Arti triennial art route this summer
36 international artists - interaction between local environment and art installations.
posts on Tempus Arti via this LINK.

Jan Van Craesbeeck at Tempus Arti

Vijf voor Twaalf

5 before 12 is a composition in the landscape, built with re-used discarded metal elements found at a store being renovated. The shape is reminiscent of fish. The five fish in the water - with their colour they are the symbol of evolution, they transform from water animals to land animals - stand in front of 12 fish on land. The twelve fish on land symbolise the present time. 5 before 12.

Jan Van Craesbeeck

part of Tempus Arti triennial art route this summer

36 international artists - interaction between local environment and art installations.

posts on Tempus Arti via this LINK.

Els Van den Veyver - A fairy tale

Els Van den Veyver places a dilapidated container on a public location. This container is filled with hair, a fairy tale house of a fugitive. He is homeless and finds this temporary shelter, lives in a placeless place and never finds home. This work is a monument for the asylum seeker. The artist makes his presence clear by showing his absence.

How many times does he cut his hair, how much hair is left behind?

The mirror that was supposed to cover the circle in front of the artwork was gone by the time we visited this location.

part of Tempus Arti triennial art route this summer
36 international artists - interaction between local environment and art installations.
posts on Tempus Arti via this LINK.