Press Kit (August 30th/31st, 2012) - Goldmann Public Relations ...

NEWTOPIA: The State of Human Rights
Contemporary Arts Exhibition in Mechelen and Brussels
01.09. – 10.12.2012
artist remained a perpetual opponent of injustice, criticizing Kingdom,
Church, Capital and Art. Wilchar called himself a proletarian artist who
stood up for the wretched of the earth. During the Second World War he
was deported to Breendonk labour camp, an experience he would never
forget and which he documented in a series of drawings. His
confrontational, bitingly sarcastic and often politically incorrect work spared
no one and was articulated in a confrontational figurative visual style that
was entirely individualistic and scornful of propriety and artistic fashions of
his time. After his death, the municipality of Beersel brought his work
together in a small monographic museum. Still not as widely recognised as
he should be, for his uncompromising artistic vision and singular political
humour, NEWTOPIA aims to help restore the artist’s importance in the
genre of socially aware agit-prop art.
Wilchar contributed to several magazines like ‘Contact’ and the clandestine
‘Art et Liberté’, which caused his detention in 1943. He also founded twice
his own magazine: ‘Peint à la main’ (1961/5) and ‘L’Impertinent’ (1976/94).
During his life, he exhibited occasionally, but never abroad. Solo exhibitions
include: Wilchar, L’Art sans Lard, CO Sint-Andries, Antwerp (2002); Wilchar
Superstar, Caermersklooster, Ghent (2001/2); Wilchar: L'Artiste Résistant,
Eglise Saint-André, Liège (2000). www.wilchar.be
KRZYSZTOF WODICZKO was born in 1943 in Warsaw, Poland. He lives
and works in New York, USA
Krzysztof Wodiczko has become internationally known for his monumental,
site-specific video projections in public space, architectural facades,
buildings and monuments, as well as for his gallery installations. These
often politically-charged works of art directly refer to human rights issues
(from war to displacement to the rights of minorities) and revolve around
issues of democracy, violence, alienation, and inhumanity, often including
the testimonies of the people whose plights they address. Complementing
these projections are Wodiczko’s mobile instruments and mechanical
installations, designed to empower marginalized members of society such
as immigrants, the homeless, those who lost their closest to street violence
and war, women, survivors of domestic abuse, and war veterans.
In 1998 Wodiczko was awarded the Hiroshima Art Prize. Currently he is
Professor in Residence of Art, Design, and the Public Domain at Harvard
University (Graduate School of Design). Recent solo exhibitions include:
Guests, Atlas Sztuki, Lodz (2010), and Polish Pavilion, 53 rd Venice Biennale
(2009); ...OUT OF HERE, ICA, Boston (2009); Autoportret 2/Self-Portrait 2,
Profile Foundation Gallery, Warszawa, and Bunkier Sztuki, Kraków (2009);
Pojazdy—Instrumenty/Vehicles—Instruments, Galeria Fundacji Signum,
Pozna( (2008). Recent group exhibitions include: Heaven, 2 nd Athens
Biennale, Athens (2010); Unbuilt Roads, e-flux project space, New York
(2009); Cold War Modern: Design 1945-1970, Victoria & Albert Museum,
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