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Component 2019

Mixed History

(2019)
50 x 50 x 20
historic fragments, steel, chain and acrylic tags
 part of a series of components produced for the exhibition Good Conditions
shown at DWM Gallery




In mixed history, I mingled fragments I picked up over the past years from 3 sites.
It was a personal reaction to the increasingly rigid use and abuse of historic facts by many forces in society, and the lack of  recognition that historical accounts are not fixed or objective truths but are shaped by the lens through which they are observed and narrated. It was a gesture against the populist outcry for keeping things pure and certainly not mixed.

Ancient THERA
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Ridge of the steep Messavouno
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Southern Aegean, Greece

 
The rose city PETRA
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Slope of Jabal Al-Madbah
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Southwestern Desert, Jordan


Contemporary VALLETTA
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Crest of Mount Sceberras
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Southeastern Coast, Malta





This component forms part of Good Conditions

In Good Conditions, Kris Van Dessel and Tom Van Malderen build upon their previous collaboration Conditions and Opportunities at DMW Art Space in 2017. Together with curator Tram Scawped, the artists continue their quest into the protocols of exhibiting and the mechanism of the contemporary art economy in general. Their previous collaboration at DMW investigated the conditions and opportunities of the ‘art space’ by means of a series of minimal in situ interventions, ranging from subtle modifications of lighting and heating elements to enquiries into the appropriate shade of white for the walls of a white cube. Following up on this expo, 'Good Conditions' explores the application and potential of autonomous artworks as components of a dense art-fair-look-alike constellation. As part of this enquiry, all prices of the works on display are fixed in accordance with the inscrutable laws of the art economy and arranged in an easy-reference component list with accompanying article numbers.
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