Middelheim Museum opens 'Martin Margiela: Blinds'
The First Art Newspaper on the Net    Established in 1996 Wednesday, December 25, 2024


Middelheim Museum opens 'Martin Margiela: Blinds'
Martin Margiela, Blinds, 2024. Courtesy of the artist and Antwerp Public Art Collection. Photo: Tom Cornille.



ANTWERP.- The Antwerp Public Art Collection (Kunst in de Stad—Middelheim Museum) proudly presents Blinds, a newly commissioned permanent artwork by Martin Margiela. This sculpture marks the first public work by Margiela, who first gained cultural acclaim as a fashion designer and has dedicated himself to visual arts since 2008.

Blinds was created for the Schuttershofstraat, a recently redesigned historical street in the center of Antwerp. The many shop windows, the casual strolling of people who enjoy seeing and being seen, as well as urban grittiness and unpredictability: all these elements informed Margiela’s work. As such, Blinds follows the Antwerp Public Art Collection’s ethos of site-responsive commissioning.

Stillness and movement

Margiela places an object we associate with privacy—a slatted curtain to hide behind, away from the gaze of others – in full view. What exactly is hidden by it, however, remains a mystery. The artist plays a game with the passer-by who is free to imagine what is being obscured. Whoever tries to look “behind the curtain” by walking around the circular sculpture always ends up back at square one. The silver slats hang still, while urban life rushes by. The artwork appears as a mirage, a perpetual dream and a nod to Belgian surrealism, a great inspiration for Margiela. As painter René Magritte said: ‘Everything we see hides another thing, we always desire to see what is hidden by what is visible.’ Blinds captures the excitement of something waiting to be revealed. It feels like something is about to happen, but the artwork remains forever motionless.

The city as a place of wonder

The city and its public space have long been an important source of inspiration for Margiela. In previous visual work, he borrowed seemingly banal objects from the urban environment and transforms them in a surreal way, such as a plastic traffic cone covered in luscious fur. With Blinds, Margiela now makes the opposite movement: he introduces a curtain - an everyday domestic object—into public space. What results from these inversions or transformative gestures is a sense of wonder and estrangement.

Blinds shares with Margiela’s previous work, as a fashion designer and as a visual artist, a great sensitivity to materials and processes of change. Traces of time or touch are not hidden or undone but are incorporated in the material execution of his work. Blinds is made of stainless steel, an industrial material, sanded to mimic the texture of textile, and finally plated with palladium, a silver-coloured goldleaf-like material that will fade over time.

Project credits

Commissioner: City of Antwerp. Curator: Samuel Saelemakers, Antwerp Public Art Collection—Middelheim Museum. Production: Art Casting, Oudenaarde.

Blinds is part of the Antwerp Public Art Collection.










Today's News

November 24, 2024

Norton Museum of Art hosts only U.S. showing of Sorolla and the Sea

Michael Werner Gallery opens an exhibition of new paintings by renowned American artist Peter Saul

British Museum to receive £1 billion collection gift from The Sir Percival David Foundation

Hamburguer Kunsthalle exhibits works from the Donation Schröder

Clark Art Institute opens an exhibition by contemporary photographer Abelardo Morell

PDNB Gallery opens a new exhibition featuring colorful photographs by Neal Slavin

Exhibition of works by Tony Cragg opens at Museo Nazionale Romano

Exhibition features more than 160 works as the largest survey of David Hockney's prints

ZKM receives the archive of Aldo Tambellini

Hauser & Wirth debuts two new bodies of painting by Rashid Johnson

25 years of Galerie Ron Mandos: A final celebration

Tanya Bonakdar Gallery opens an exhibition of gallery artists who explore the intersections of art and science

Kunstmuseum Den Haag opens 'Grand Dessert: The History of the Dessert'

'Julieta Aranda: Clear Coordinates for Our Confusion' opens at Museo Universitario Arte Contemporáneo

Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art opens the first gallery exhibition of British photographer Harry Griffin

Adrian Piper conceives two new site-specific works for exhibition at Portikus

Kristen Lorello opens a solo exhibition of new paintings by Emily Roz

'Paint for Life! / Trevor Yeung: Soft conch' on view at Aranya Art Center

Henry Art Gallery at University of Washington announces Fall/winter exhibitions

Middelheim Museum opens 'Martin Margiela: Blinds'

How CapCut Simplifies Social Media Video Editing for Beginners




Museums, Exhibits, Artists, Milestones, Digital Art, Architecture, Photography,
Photographers, Special Photos, Special Reports, Featured Stories, Auctions, Art Fairs,
Anecdotes, Art Quiz, Education, Mythology, 3D Images, Last Week, .

 



Founder:
Ignacio Villarreal
(1941 - 2019)
Editor & Publisher: Jose Villarreal
(52 8110667640)

Art Director: Juan José Sepúlveda Ramírez
Writer: Ofelia Zurbia Betancourt

Attorneys
Truck Accident Attorneys
Accident Attorneys
Houston Dentist
Abogado de accidentes
สล็อต
สล็อตเว็บตรง
Motorcycle Accident Lawyer

Royalville Communications, Inc
produces:

ignaciovillarreal.org juncodelavega.com facundocabral-elfinal.org
Founder's Site. Hommage
to a Mexican poet.
Hommage
       

The First Art Newspaper on the Net. The Best Versions Of Ave Maria Song Junco de la Vega Site Ignacio Villarreal Site Parroquia Natividad del Señor
Tell a Friend
Dear User, please complete the form below in order to recommend the Artdaily newsletter to someone you know.
Please complete all fields marked *.
Sending Mail
Sending Successful