In the text "Across the Rationalist Veil" Franke further explains some of the ideas that he is referring to in the video talk.
Anselm Franke was in conversation with the Belgian artist Valérie Mannaerts (2) about her work and exhibition on July 8, 2010. Domusweb shows here an excerpt from this conversation.
Valérie Mannaerts mainly creates sculptures, collages and installations which are brought together in a theatrically staged manner. In her practice objects function as images and images as objects. For her first solo exhibition at Extra City she created a sort of imaginary garden with all sorts of organic and inorganic forms. The materials she used ranged from wood, bronze, ceramics, textile, and paint to papier-mâché and paper. As Mannaerts works in the legacy of surrealism, unexpectedness and chance form the main themes around which she builds her art. Through these mechanisms Mannaerts in a way negates her own authorship - a gamble for innocence and sculptures without censorship. This strategy is placed against the idea of handcraft and the exposition of the act of sculpting - handmade processes which are usually occluded but are here made visible.
1. Anselm Franke is a curator and writer based in Brussels and Berlin. He is the Artistic Director of Extra City Center for Contemporary Art in Antwerp, and he was a co-curator of Manifesta 7 in Trentino-Alto Adige, Italy (2008). Previously, Franke acted as curator of KW Institute for Contemporary Art in Berlin until 2006, where he organized exhibitions such as Territories. Islands, Camps and Other States of Utopia (2003); Image Archives (2001/2002); The Imaginary Number (2005, together with Hila Peleg), and B-Zone – Becoming Europe and Beyond (2006) and he co-developed the project No Matter How Bright the Light, the Crossing Occurs At Night (2006). Other projects include "Animism" at Extra City, Antwerp and Kunsthalle Bern, Switzerland (2010); and "Mimétisme" at Extra City, Antwerp, Belgium (2008). He has edited and published various publications and is a contributor to magazines such as Metropolis M, Piktogram, and Cabinet.
2. Valérie Mannaerts (Brussels, 1974) lives and works in Brussels. She was artist in residence at the ISCP New York (2008) and has recently participated in group exhibitions such as Beaufort 03, Muzee Oostende and on location (2009); The Thing (All that is solid melts into the air), M HKA Cultuursite Mechelen (2009); Un-Scene, Wiels, Brussels (2008). Recent solo exhibitions include Wherefore the worm universe, Galerie Les Filles du Calvaire, Brussels (2008) and Experimental architecture, Etablissement d'en face, Brussels (2007). In December 2010, Mannaerts will have a solo exhibition in de Appel, Amsterdam. A monograph will be published in collaboration with de Appel, Amsterdam, in January 2011.