Page 191 - Katalog Beyond the Box 820 final.indd

dards in a variety of societies and cultures, using mainly industrial Becher, Fred Sandback, and the Minimal Art artist William Anastasi,
materials such as blinds, clothes racks, or graph paper. She uses who was born in 1933 and only rediscovered a few years ago.
standardised material as a metaphor for norms, demonstrating that When did your interest in conceptual art begin to develop?
there are different standards in different cultures, as in the work
‚Non-Indépliables‘ from the ongoing series of wrapped drying racks The start was certainly an encounter with the great museum man
(2006 and 2009/10). She shows how many different models have Jan Hoet, who sadly died in Ghent on February 27, 2014. Two ye-
been developed for the same purpose in different countries. In ot- ars after his important show ‚Chambres d‘amis‘ in Gent in 1988, we
her works she uses her own formal language to illustrate political invited him from the Neuer Aachener Kunstverein to give a lecture
or historical themes. One central work is ‚5, Rue Saint-Benoît‘ from on this exhibition. The man fascinated me – his sparkling eyes, his
2008, which mirrors the private home of the writer Marguerite Du- dynamism, his knowledge, his infinite empathy in matters of art, his
ras. Duras‘ apartment became the location of Résistance meetings aura. I visited him shortly afterwards at the SMAK in Ghent and
during the Nazi occupation of France. Haegue Yang shows that a after a long conversation he showed me part of his private col-
private domestic sphere can be an extremely political area. Another lection – loose sheets in a large drawer – including drawings by
perspective of recent years that also fascinates me is that of Me- Joseph Beuys. After intensive debate between two collectors, he
xican artist Mariana Castillo Deball, born in Mexico City in 1975. finally agreed to sell me three of his sheets. Afterwards we went to
She visits archaeological as well as scientific archives and questions his favourite pub, a well-known boxer hangout in Ghent, the three
knowledge transfer culture by showing where learning is lost, even drawings in a catalogue under my arm. It ended up a long night,
when it is archived. She demonstrates that the knowledge of the until three o‘clock in the morning. At that time, Hoet didn‘t know
Mexicans and the indigenous population has often been forgotten that he was to curate documenta IX in 1992. One of the highlights
under the Spanish oppression. Works by the Cuban artist Diango of our friendship was certainly a jointly curated exhibition at MARTa
Hernández supplement this ‚non-Western‘ part of my collection, as Herford in 2007 entitled ‚Marta is silent‘.
do sets by other conceptual artists such as Wim Delvoye, Nina Ca-
nell, Mel Chin, Michael E. Smith, Rodney McMillian, Bernd and Hilla What about painting in your collection?

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