June 2022

From CAFA Art News On the afternoon of October 21, 2014, “Master Mould and Copy Room” was unveiled in the CAFA Art Museum. The exhibition is hosted by the CAFA Art Museum and has been planned by Professor Hans De Wolf from Vrije University Brussels (VUB) in Belgium. The exhibition powerfully questions several key concepts in Chinese and Western artistic traditions, and introduces a series of Belgian artists who occupy an important position in the world of art history to Chinese audiences, including artists Marcel Broodthaers, Frank Theys, Joëlle Tuerlinckx, Didier Vermeiren, Francis Alys, etc., whose works are on show together with several famous Chinese domestic artists Xu Bing, Pan Gongkai, Su Xinping, Song Dong, Sun Yuan & Peng Yu, they formed an interesting echo and dialogue.  At 2:30 pm the press conference was held at the VIP meeting room of the CAFA Art Museum. Gao Gao from the Academic Department of CAFA Art Museum hosted the press conference, Rudi Vervoort, Minister-President of the Brussels-Capital Region, Wang Huangsheng, Director of CAFA Art Museum, curator of the exhibition Professor Hans De Wolf from Vrije University Brussels (VUB), Director of the Staatliches Museum Schwerin, as well as the exhibiting artists Guillaume Bijl, Frank Theys,

From VUB PRESS An exhibition of the 50th anniversary of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. From October 17, 2019 to December 14, 2019 at the following locations: Pilar (VUB), the Braem Building (VUB) and SeeU - USquare.  The further we penetrate into the still young 21st century, the more we become aware of a compelling paradox that the 20th century has left unresolved: on the one hand, our society becomes almost unbearably rational, with codes and controls, objectives to be achieved and threats, while on the other day after day the news is filled with reports of religious intolerance, of conflicts waged in the name of all kinds of religions and opinions, with populism and 'fake news' being the newest member of the group.  JRSLM – an exhibition with which VUB celebrates its creation 50 years ago – attempts to investigate why this is the case.  And the crux of the story comes down to the fact that all the knowledge available on our campus will never suffice to determine exactly what it takes to make a person truly FREE and strong enough to withstand these challenges. If we want to understand how such individual freedom works, we may well be in need of a mystical

From VUB PRESS For a number of decades now, the old art world in the West has been waking up to the fact that an amazing phenomenon has emerged far away in China and is still winning in force: Chinese artists have been recognized for making important contributions to the globalized art world. Some Europeans try to turn a blind eye to the phenomenon, other show ever have understood the historical change Chinese artists have brought forward and are trying to get them into their systems.  As an exhibition, Chinese Utopias Revisited – The Elephants is neither about denial, nor about the appropriation of Chinese contemporary art. It is the fruit of a unique curatorial approach. Never before has a most exclusive choice of Chinese artists been presented in a major European city, in a fair and open dialogue with colleague artists from all over the world. The effect is most surprising: Chinese artists are no longer distinguished primarily by their Chinese identity but become logical and appreciated contributors to a universal debate called the visual arts. This exhibition is a result of a long line of collaborative programs between the Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA) and the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), and also a

From KUNSTLERHAUS BETHANIEN  At the latest after an article in the New York Times announced it to the world, Brussels is considered one of the most important metropolises for contemporary art and allegedly rivals Berlin. The exhibition MIXED FEELINGS brings together for the first time a current selection of works by young artists working in Brussels and shows them in the rooms of the former Tempelhof Airport. The project sees itself as the first in a series of collaborations between the two cities. A Berlin response to Brussels is already being planned.  MIXED FEELINGS deals with a central question: How can cultural identity be rethought and practiced interculturally in our time and under the conditions of globalization and migration?  The works of art presented by the selection of seven artists underscore the status of Brussels as an open center for processes of crossing and crossing cultural borders.  Which confirming or critical impulses the exhibition can send out in the direction of Berlin will be decided solely on the aesthetic quality of the works, which is why the integration of well-known classics such as James Ensor, Marcel Broodthaers, Kris Verdonck, Kendell Geers and Koen Theys represents the abolition of identity boundaries poses a particular challenge.  The

From ATTITUDINE FORMA Alighiero Boetti, George Brecht, Marcel Broodthaers, Stanley Brouwn, David Claerbout, Vu Dan Tan Thierry, De Cordier, Wim Delvoye, Lucio Fontana, Michel François, Valérian Goalec, Aukje Koks, Joseph Kosuth, Marcel Mariën, Jan Mast, Hana Miletic, Bruce Nauman, Sonia Niwemahoro, Panamarenko, Kato Six, Walter Swennen, Angel Vergara, Didier Vermeiren, Lawrence Weiner, Franz West  On the occasion of the Days dedicated to the Brussels-Capital Region at the Belgian Pavilion at Expo 2015, the Vrije University of Brussels presents in Milan, from 24 September to 18 October 2015, in the evocative setting of the historic Battaglia Artistic Foundry, an exhibition that challenges the concept of art as beauty.  Curated by Hans M. De Wolf, the exhibition is free to enter and presents the work of twenty-five artists with a historical path that starts from the dawn of conceptual art, passes through established contemporary artists and arrives at the work of eight young Belgian artists, including five women, whose works are presented in the context of the works of those who influenced them.  Duchamp's desecrations are therefore a prelude to Ai Weiwei's hanging stools, and then give way to the ironic provocations of Sonia Niwemahoro, a very young Belgian-Rwandan artist.  Hans De Wolf with the technical collaboration