Inside Installations. Presentation Collection S.M.A.K.

S.M.A.K.'s collection contains more than 1800 works and covers a wide range of developments in international art history from 1945 to the present day. Inside Installations brings 11 installations from the collection face to face with one another and with the space in which they are located: Leo Copers, Honoré d'O, Noritoshi Hirakawa, Mariusz Kruk, Mark Manders, Dennis Oppenheim, Jason Rhoades, Andreas Slominski, Paul Thek, Joëlle Tuerlinckx, Wolf Vostell … The exhibition immerses the spectator in the multifaceted world of installation art and at the same time explains the questions and difficulties which can be involved in conserving these sometimes quite complex artworks and making them accessible.

Inside Installations focuses on the 'invisible processes' that take place in the museum. How does a museum deal with installations that were designed for a highly specific space? Can one depart from this and display the work elsewhere? How are installations documented? Are plans and photographs sufficient to be able to reconstruct the exact arrangement of an installation at a later date? S.M.A.K. has examined these questions and developed documentation which also includes the spatial perception of an installation. This allows the installation to be rearranged following its dismantling without losing any of its essential elements. For each installation, a dossier is drawn up containing every possible item of information. Ideally, various arrangements are tested and adapted according to the specific space in question. Joëlle Tuerlinckx, for example, designed five different scenarios for displaying Un Ensemble autour de Mur (1999). For PIG (Piece In Ghent) (1994), a complex installation with objects which each refer to elements from The Lamb of God (1432) by the Van Eyck brothers, Jason Rhoades devised a single arrangement which had to be rigidly adhered to. During the course of the exhibition, Honoré d'Owill arrange Draaiboek voor de Schatbewaarder (1996) in five different ways. These scenarios will be closely documented, thereby allowing S.M.A.K. to create an optimal documentation in dialogue with the artist.

www.inside-installations.org | A European research project The exhibition is an offshoot of or a reflection on the European-wide research project Inside Installations: Preservation and Presentation of Installation Art, which took place between 2004 and 2007 and met with an international response. S.M.A.K. was involved in the project as one of the co-organisers and in this exhibition it aims to involve the spectator in the somewhat 'hidden' but nevertheless important tasks which a museum has to fulfil, namely conservation and guardianship. Together with Tate Modern in London and Reina Sofia in Madrid, among others, the S.M.A.K. investigated the complexity of installation art and the issues, which arise when an installation is included in a museum collection.

Inside Installations
Presentation Collection S.M.A.K.
Kurator: Dirk Pauwels

Künstler: Klaus vom Bruch, Honoré d´O, Noritoshi Hirakawa, Mariusz Kruk, Mark Manders, Dennis Oppenheim, Jason Rhoades, Andreas Slominski, Paul Thek, Joëlle Tuerlinckx, Wolf Vostell