Denis Maksimov is a political consultant, conceptual artist, curator, theorist, writer and a
transdisciplinary researcher of art, power, strategy and future. www.denismaksimov.com.
POLIAESTHETICA
‘THE
FUTURE’
Derrida refers to L’Avenir as the ‘real
future’ - something exciting, arriving without
anticipation. It is a stranger in the street that
starts a random conversation on the tram stop,
a conversation that might lead to long-lasting
friendship or relationship and change the
course of your life.
Artists were always fascinated about the
future. In modern times of growing uncertainty
and a sense of insecurity, the subject of the
future comes on top of people’s agenda again.
In the last decades, many people thought that
history was ‘over’, that the ‘grand narratives’
and ideologies are not necessary anymore
because our society reached the point of
ultimate reflection. In politics, Fukuyama
pronounced the end of history and the arrival
of the last man - a man of liberal democracy.
However the events of the last 10 years economic crisis, disappointment in elites,
climate change, terrorism and the return
of the cold war - have become more and
more evident to people. What can save us
from ourselves and the infrastructures of
consumption we built that threaten the very
existence of our planet in a not that distant
future?
The French poststructuralist philosopher
Jacques Derrida wrote about two kinds of
future - ‘The Future’ and ‘L’Avenir’. ‘The Future’,
in his understanding, is something that we
expect - ‘predictable, programmed, scheduled,
foreseeable’. It is in our calendars: plans for
holidays, meetings with friends, concerts,
events, arrival of salaries, planned purchases
and so on. ‘The Future’ is therefore a defining
matrix of our existence, the multidimensional
graphs of the expected.
‘L’avenir’ (from French ‘to come’) is another
story. It is something unpredictable and
unexpected. In modern risk theory it
is something that is called ‘black swan’.
28 | THE BRUSSELS TIMES MAGAZINE
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One of the possible answers of the Western
civilization is technological progress. We will
produce more food and use less resources,
we will optimize consumption and we are to
become more reflective and responsible. But
how much time do we need to re-adjust? Do
we have enough political will? Are we capable
of dealing with the myriad of challenges, many
of which we have created ourselves in the
course of history?
Y
Art should play the role of a platform for
transdisciplinary discussion and reflection
about ‘L’avenir’. It is the only ground where
hierarchies and bureaucracies still don’t play
the most important role and leave enough
space for free and creative conversation.
R
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BRUSSELS
CHAGALL
RETROSPECTIVE AT
ROYAL MUSEUMS
OF FINE ARTS OF
BELGIUM
// until June 26
open Thursday to Friday,
10 am - 5 pm,
Weekends - until to 6 pm,
@ Rue de la Régence 3,
1000 Brussels
admission: €17.50 or €15.50,
depending on the period
One of the largest retrospective
exhibitions of the celebrated
modern artist Marc Chagall takes
place at Royal Museums with more
than 200 works from public and
private collections around the
globe. The work, both logistical and
curatorial, is no doubt immense
and worth to be given a good two
hours or more of your time. The
curators didn’t chose a traditional
academic ‘historical’ timeline instead the exhibition follows the
logic of the autobiography of the
artist, alongside a presentation
of the artistic, political, social and
cultural events during his life.
Just to mention a few works in
the exhibition. ‘White crucifixion’,
perhaps the most direct and
political work of the artist, is
exhibited in a public museum for
the first time. Horrors of Nazism
and Holocaust are captured
by Chagall in a very emotional,
symbolic composition. ‘Fire in the
snow’ is another powerful imagery,
capturing the moment of shock
and fear.
Surreal drawings, which Chagall is
probably most known for around
the world, are present in a vast
variety. His favourite appropriations
of Russian fairy tales characters
(rooster-man, magic birds, etc.)
express a romantic spirit of the
unknown and the mysterious, and
triggers our curiosity.
THE BRUSSELS TIMES MAGAZINE | 29
ART AS SOMETHING ELSE #2: ON
GENDER. GIUSEPPE CAMPUZANO:
LINEA DE VIDA – MUSEO TRAVESTI
DEL PERU AT VISIBLE PROJECT
// until April 29
open every Thursday and Friday, 11 a.m. – 6 p.m
closed during Easter holidays, April 4 - 18
@ Rue du Page 87, 1050 Ixelles
free entrance
Alternative narratives are a general trend nowadays. But social prejudices still limit the
research potential in many places around the globe. Giuseppe Campuzano started Museo
Travesti as a personal project in Lima, Peru, trying to reflect on the origins of his sexuality
against the social environment in the country. The project turned out to be an extensive
research of one of the ‘forgotten’ and ‘abandoned’ social groups, the LGBT community.
Visible Project, in collaboration with Museo Travesti in Lima and its curator Miguel Lopez,
presents posthumously (as Giuseppe Campuzano passed away last year) Campuzano’s
life in parallel with the alternative narrative of Peru from the perspective of the LGBT
community. The exhibition is constructed as a timeline of Peruvian history from the
first organised communities thousands of years ago until the present day. Illustration is
provided via historical artefacts but mostly through objects and works of the personal life
of Campuzano. There is a tension between the personal history of a person struggling with
society for recognition of his right to free self-identification and self-expression, and the
political and social history of the Peruvian state. The composition of historical and artistic
research methods makes the exhibition even more powerful.
Contemporary art projects with a political statement is what our muddy postmodern
Western societies need in order to reflect and claim a better future.
BRUSSELS
ART BRUSSELS 2015
// April 25 - 27
open 11 am to 7 pm,
Monday to 8 pm
@ Brussels Expo
(Heysel), Halls 1 & 3,
Place de Belgique, 1
admission: €20, online
pre-sale - €15
Every year Brussels’ reputation as a centre for
contemporary art is growing and the Art Brussels
Fair has became an integral component of this
process. The fair attracts the best galleries
worldwide to show oﬀ established, but most
importantly, emerging talents from the contemporary
art world. Moreover, what makes the fair special,
is that it includes a special section for ‘Young’ and
‘Discovery’ - specially selected by a curatorial jury,
presenting emerging, promising and innovative
artists. For a good visit, plan at least half a day. In
case you want to dig deeper, a full day is needed.
The preview of Art Brussels for professionals
(curators, collectors, etc.) will be held on Friday
(April 26). On Thursday evening (April 25), in
conjunction with the launch of Art Brussels, 26
art galleries and spaces will participate in Gallery
Night, which has become a tradition over time. Free
shuttle buses will be circulating between diﬀerent
participating galleries to make sure that you can get
the most out of a very packed art night.
30 | THE BRUSSELS TIMES MAGAZINE
POPPOSITIONS 2015
// April 23 - 27
open 12 pm - 8 pm
@ the Canal Wharf, 1000 Brussels
admission: €5
April is ‘the month’ of the year of the contemporary art
scene in Brussels. Poppositions Art Fair, in its 4th edition this
year, continues to pursue the goal of representing art spaces,
collectives and galleries that are focused on the expanded
field of art. Art is not only about spending money on
concrete material objects - it is an integral social asset that
has the potential of changing the way how people think, open
new horizons of reflection and even suggest ways out of our
current crises. The motto of the fair this year is a quote from
French Fluxus artist Robert Filliou - ‘Whatever you think,
think something else. Whatever you do, do something else’.
40 galleries and artists’ collectives (I myself is a member
of Collective Francis) will present their take on the current
state and the future of art and society.
The programme of public talks and debates, organised in the
framework of the fair, will be announced in April. One of the
talks - about artistic strategies in the expanded field - will be
moderated by me. You are warmly welcome to participate
in a discussion about the role of contemporary art as the
source of inspiration, reflection, creativity, motivation for the
economy and politics. The public opening of the fair is at 5
pm on Wednesday, 23 April.
BRUSSELS
MARCIN DUDEK ‘SAVED BY AN
UNSEEN CRACK’ AT HARLAN LEVEY
PROJECTS
// from 18 April to May 30
open Thursday to Sunday, 1 pm to 7 pm
@ 46 Rue Jean d’Ardenne, 1050 Ixelles
free entrance
Research of opposing forces is in the
centre of Marcin Dudek’s second solo
show at Harlan Levey Projects gallery. This
is the first show in the new location of the
gallery, which moved from Dansaert to the
area of Place Stephanie.
The tragic accident in Heysel in 1985,
with the loss of 39 lives, is the point of
departure for one of the main works
in the exhibition. The artist intertwines
reflections on his personal history with
fascination with the architecture of the
spectacle - ‘From flags to fairy tales
to monumental failings, questions of
romantic nationalism are put into play in a
physical and mental battle’. Topics of fear,
fanaticism, invented enemies - it couldn’t
be less topical in our time.
The grand opening of the new location
of the gallery will be accompanied by the
opening of Dudek’s exhibition on April 18,
starting at 19.00 (free entry).
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