Shelter
Resin, hemp, pigment
Unique
60 x 117 x 185 cm
2004
Content
Galerie Brigitte Weiss presents the first installation of the Recyclable Refugee Camp, a project by Belgian artist Ives Maes. This R.R.C. - built in conformity with the regulations of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees - consists of structures such as living units, a multifunctional tent and latrines; all easily transportable and with a relatively low production cost. Strikingly, Maes did not developed his R.R.C. out of concern with the terrible situation thousands of refugees see themselves in, but out of the artistic need to create an artwork that would be absolutely ethical in nature, well aware of the fact that this claim to hyper-ethicality would fail. Ives Maes began rethinking the ideas of social sculpture and politically engaged art at the instigation of the Progretto Arte manifesto and the concept of Unidee by Pistoletto - R.R.C. was proposed to his Citta dell’ Arte community earlier this year and triggered an intense debate there. Because Maes culminates epistemological tools used in discussions on contemporary art - like interdisciplinary practice, aestheticism and the position of the artist in the “real” world - mixed with a set that befits academic discourses on global economy and politics, sociology and ecological concerns. This redundancy makes the work shift to an ideal and utopian construction, though it gleefully retains its perception of pragmatism.
Excerpt from the text ‘Recyclable Refugee Camp’ by Tom Nys, 2004
PROJECT
With his RECYCLABLE REFUGEE CAMP project, Ives Maes probed the derailment of contemporary hyper-ethics. His latrines, wells, shelters and coffins, fabricated in a natural resin, raise ethics to a manic state. The Recyclable Refugee Camp tackles the ethical imperative that encourages art to intervene in the world, localizing the epicenter of a new utopia inside the boundaries of the art world itself.
Excerpt from the text ‘An economy of truth’ by Wim Peeters, published in Flash Art nr. 235, 2004
Exhibition
Recyclable Refugee Camp
Brigitte Weiss Gallery, Zürich, Switzerland
09/01/04 – 28/02/04
Curated by Tom Nys
Solo exhibition
Il Giardino Segreto
FLACc, Genk, Belgium
27/06/04 – 08/08/04
Solo exhibition