An Exhibition – Another Exhibition is the first monograph of the work of Belgian artist Valérie Mannaerts. The book captures two solo exhibitions that took place in 2010 – ‘Blood Flow’ at Extra City Kunsthal Antwerpen, and ‘Diamond Dancer’ at de Appel arts centre. Amsterdam.
Dynamically collaging across mediums – from paint to bronze, papier-mâché to concrete – Mannaerts playfully arranges sculptural elements to create spatial installations, which could be considered to be stage sets without stages. As scales oscillate and we are continuously wrong-footed as to the materiality, the works exist in a space of deliberate ambiguity, sitting on the threshold between object and image. The monograph includes an essay by Anselm Franke, a conversation between the artist and Ann Demeester, and images and illustrations of the two exhibitions.
Co-published with de Appel arts centre and Extra City Kunsthal Antwerpen, distributed via Sternberg Press, designed by Saskia Gevaert.
I did the translations from Dutch into English for this book. Not being familiar with the artist’s works thus far, it gave me an excellent insight into her practice.
Gerrie van Noord 