BRUSSELS.- Un-Scene III is a group exhibition of 13 emerging artists in or from Belgium. It presents a slice of a scene, a scan of a particular moment, and reveals the position of WIELS as an international institution firmly rooted in the Belgian landscape. The works presented in Un-Scene III include new and existing pieces, and range across all media. The scope of ideas explored is equally broad, while certain common themes emerge. These include: the impact of digital imagery on our way of seeing and making images; an interest in beauty, craftsmanship and the decorative; the appropriation of artworks and the delegation of authorship; the evocation of an absent or dematerialised body. And while little of the work makes outspoken political statements, many of the artists explore fundamental political questions, such as the social value of art, or its potential to change the way in which we see the world around us.

The title – with its play on words suggesting both unseen and a non-scene – has perhaps a different connotation today than when employed at WIELS for the previous editions of Un-Scene (2008 & 2012). If there remain numerous, overlapping art scenes in Belgium (if not divided along language lines, then still often grouped around linguistic affinities), there is also an international scene that has grown in both scale and renown over the past years. It is perhaps the very heterogeneous nature of the Belgian art world that attracts so many foreign artists, who can find pathways into this amorphous network. This diversity is manifested in the selection of artists for Un-Scene III. Born between 1970 and 1990, they represent an extended generation, include seven different nationalities, and cannot be ascribed to one single scene. The criteria for their selection did not include a strict age limit, as we did not want to focus solely on young artists. We felt it was more important to present the work of artists demonstrating a solid practice who had yet to benefit from extensive institutional exposure.

Although several of the artists enjoy gallery representation, either in Belgium or abroad, they do not all have a high profile commercially. Amongst those whose work might be more familiar to national audiences, we have chosen to present lesser-known bodies of work. We decided to include former participants of the WIELS residency programme for the first time in Un-Scene. The residency now exists for eight years and has a growing impact on the Belgian art scene, not least because many of the international artists who come to Brussels for the residency choose to remain here afterwards. While the preparatory research for the exhibition took us to Oostende, Ghent, Antwerp and Liège, the final selection of artists are all based in Brussels, with one exception (Freek Wambacq, originally from Brussels, now living in Amsterdam). This reflects the increasing pull of the capital, which continues to attract a growing number of artists from the rest of Belgium and beyond. In addition to being the de facto administrative capital of the European Union, Brussels is also home to NATO headquarters and – somewhat less prominently – to a large migrant community. Its bilingual status – and multilingual daily reality – together with its position as a transport hub at an important crossroad for trade and travel make it a relatively easy city in which to settle as a European (if less so as a non-European). Brussels’ cultural permeability seems to be fertile soil for creativity. The artists in Un-Scene III speak of its porosity and unpredictability, of the way the city seems to belong to nobody and everybody at the same time. Several of them are active in the ‘non-profit’ network, establishing spaces and programming exhibitions while also producing and presenting their own work. Others use Brussels rather as a studio, as a space to think and work in relative isolation. If the context has shifted, the ambition of Un-Scene remains essentially the same: not simply to render the ‘invisible’ visible, but to present work that challenges both its makers and its viewers.