Cripplewood

Inspired by a dialogue with the city of Venice, artist Berlinde De Bruyckere fills the Belgian pavilion at the 55th International Art Exhibition — Venice Biennale with a massive installation.

On the occasion of the 55th International Art Exhibition — Venice Biennale, the Belgian pavilion presents "Kreupelhout — Cripplewood", an installation by artist Berlinde De Bruyckere that occupies the entire pavilion, inspired by the artist’s dialogue with the city of Venice, its history and the numerous paintings and sculptures of Saint Sebastian around the city.

The installation is a plea by De Bruyckere for undisclosed beauty, synthesising themes that are at the centre of her work: life and death; Eros and Thanatos; strength and vulnerability; oppression and protection; desire and suffering; desolation and unification.

Top and left: Berlinde De Bruyckere, *Kreupelhout – Cripplewood*, installation detail at the Belgian pavilion on the occasion of the 55th International Art Exhibition — Venice Biennale, 2013

The installation follows on De Bruyckere's signature practice of making life-size reconstructions of objects and bodies. But instead of replicating animals or human bodies, the work replicates an enormous uprooted elm tree, merging into a mass of trunks and limbs with a resemblance to the muscles, tendons and bones of the human body. Between the tree’s limbs, soft pillows, blankets and rags are used to soothe and support the exposed body. In "Kreupelhout – Cripplewood", the metamorphosis from man to tree and vice versa is tangible but incomplete.

Berlinde De Bruyckere, *Kreupelhout – Cripplewood*, installation detail at the Belgian pavilion on the occasion of the 55th International Art Exhibition — Venice Biennale, 2013

The installation incorporates the iconography of Saint Sebastian, deriving from the fact that in Venice no other saint has been portrayed more than Saint Sebastian, who is often shown tied to a tree and shot with arrows.

Through 24 November 2013
Berlinde De Bruyckere: Kreupelhout – Cripplewood
Belgian Pavilion at the 55th International Art Exhibition — Venice Biennale
Giardini, Castello, Venice

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