ROOM OF WONDER I AXEL VERVOORDT OCTOBER 19TH 2018 - APRIL 28TH 2019 Please do not touch the exhibited objects. Please return this exhibition guide after your visit. Thank you for your understanding. ROOM OF WONDER I AXEL VERVOORDT OCTOBER 19TH 2018 - APRIL 28TH 2019 Ground floor Shop Entrance Second floor Scan your ticket here Third floor Room of Wonder I: Axel Vervoordt 3 2 2 1 entrance entrance + + exit exit 1 ROOMS OF WONDER IN DIVA ‘Room of Wonder I: Axel Vervoordt’ is the start of a series of exhibitions in which leading guest curators present their interpretation of a cabinet of wonders. Thus, DIVA continues to build on a concept that is also the starting point of the DIVA collection presentation, A Brilliant Story. Internationally acclaimed art dealer and interior designer Axel Vervoordt is the first to present his personal Room of Wonder at DIVA. AXEL VERVOORDT ON HIS ROOM OF WONDER “A Room of Wonder is there to create ‘wonder’, to inspire, to discover things that surprise and fascinate. I myself always try to look at art as a child, without prejudice or foreknowledge, and I like to be surprised by what my senses intuitively present to me. Only then do I want to acquire knowledge about the object, the origin, the history, the artist and the circumstances in which it was made. Such deeper knowledge often leads to even greater wonder and fascination. As a collector, I’ve always looked for the dialogue between objects that reinforces their intrinsic power. In a traditional cabinet of wonders, all sorts of artefacts, exceptional naturalia and innovative scientific instruments were brought together to impress and to be studied. I want this Room of Wonders to similarly immerse you in a wonderful world, where pieces of various origins and diverse values were combined to inspire new ideas and creations.” This exhibition guide contains concise information on the exhibited objects. The complete exhibition catalogue can be consulted at the table in Room I and, if desired, purchased in the museum shop. 7 ROOM I 1 In this composition of three worlds, ethnical and contemporary works of art melt with naturalia into an artist’s studio, which has the aura of a diva. 1 A.F. Vandevorst 4 Masatoshi Masanobu (Kochi, 1911-1995) Parachute Dress Work Collection Spring/Summer 2015 1959 Private collection Joyce diDonato Oil on canvas Collection Axel Vervoordt Gallery, 2 Wouters & Hendrix inv. A0713.119 Wind Hand to The Hilt (Perfection of Nature) (Time capsule) 5 Ida Barbarigo (b. 1920, Venice - d. 2018) 2014 Passeggiata spericolata Collection Wouters & Hendrix 1963 Jewelry Oil on canvas Collection Axel Vervoordt Gallery, 3 Collection of precious non-treated inv. 1117.108 stones Sapphire, quartz, aquamarine, 6 Shiro Tsujimura (b. 1947, Gose) danburite, spinel, topaz, Large jar with accrued kiln shards tourmaline, ametrine 2010 Weight between 3.78 and 1,228.30 Iga, natural ash glaze carat Collection Axel Vervoordt Gallery, Collection Pascal Entremont inv. A0409.744 A sample of precious stones from 7 Paper from the workshop of Kazuo the collection of Pascal Entremont Shiraga (Amagasaki, 1924-2008) gives us an idea of the beautiful 1994 range of colours of the minerals Oil on paper produced by nature. For thirty-five Collection Axel Vervoordt Gallery, years Entremont has travelled inv. A0513.066 around the world in search of rare stones. He approached them as a scientist would, probing their authenticity and categorizing them in an inventory. 8 8 El Anatsui (b. 1944, Anyako) 9 Taxidermied long-tailed pangolin Flame of/in the Forest Ethiopia, 19th century 2012 Collection Axel & May Vervoordt Aluminium, bottle tops, roofing Foundation, inv. A0485.026 sheets and copper wire Collection Axel Vervoordt Gallery, 10 Angel Vergara (b. 1958, Mieres) inv. A0412.136 Milena et le Verre d’Eau 2007 The work Flame of/in the Forest Video projection and pencil on wood is a large tapestry-like metal panel painting sculpture made of thousands of Collection Axel & May Vervoordt colourful liquor caps and continues Foundation, inv. A0911.109 the artist’s exploration into the various languages of his materials. Gothic architectural element with El Anatsui uses aluminium bottle 11 Chimaera motifs caps and the labels of liquor bottles France, 13th century that are stitched together with Sandstone copper wire to create sculptural Collection Axel Vervoordt Company, installations that often look like a inv. A1012.039 three-dimensional tapestry. The transformation and reuse of simple, 12 Stephen Jones (b. 1957, United Kingdom) everyday materials draws attention Birdeye (hat) to contemporary ideas about waste, 1999 consumption and recycling, but Paper and feathers above all it presents an analysis of Collection MoMu Antwerp, inv. B02/6, conventional painting and sculpture. Collection Geert Bruloot - Eddy Michiels Anatsui reworks and rearranges found materials and transforms 13 Stephen Jones (b. 1957, United Kingdom) them into something new, yet they Superior (hat) don’t lose their own history. The 2001 repetitively hand-stitched bottle Leather and synthetic caps evoke the cultural tradition of Collection MoMu Antwerp, inv. B02/72, handcraft and of a graphical system Collection Geert Bruloot - Eddy Michiels that is used for patterns on African textile. And although the material is 14 Mammoth molar mass-produced, it has no industrial Fossil feel to it. Hints of the touch and Collection Axel Vervoordt Company, craft of human hands are embedded inv. 0407.018 in the work, bringing a sense of emotion and contemplation. 8 9 15 Pavo cristatus (Indian Peafowl) cultural references that humanized the Collection Museum of Natural pigs and emphasized the metaphor. The Sciences of Belgium, inv. RBINS Toile de Jouy pattern with rural scenes was 83306 fashionable in the eighteenth century for fabrics. In that sense, the pig is steeped 16 Jan Dries (b. Mol, 1925-2014) in a Marie Antoinette atmosphere, which Vol-ledig stresses even more the human profligacy. 1973 Carrara marble 19 Gorgonian or horn coral Collection Province of Antwerp, Collection Axel Vervoordt Company, inv. PB079 inv. A0318.051 17 Tsuyoshi Maekawa (b. 1936, 20 Equus quagga burchellii (Burchell’s Kohama) Zebra) Strings I Collection Museum of Natural Sciences 1959 of Belgium, inv. RBINS 1216 Linen, strings, oil on canvas Collection Axel & May Vervoordt 21 Takis (b. 1925, Athens) Foundation, inv. A0113.194 Signal 1958 18 Wim Delvoye (b. 1965, Wervik) Painted iron Toile de Jouy Collection Axel & May Vervoordt 2006 Foundation, inv. A0813.014 Tattooed pig skin on polyester mould 22 Caiman Collection Studio Wim Collection Axel Vervoordt Company, Delvoye inv. A0407.063 With his tattooed pigs, Wim 23 Narwhal tusk Delvoye criticizes the contemporary Ivory art market. In China, he had live Collection Axel & May Vervoordt piglets tattooed at his Art Farm. Foundation, inv.A1096.085 Collectors and speculators could put in a bid for the animals, which 24 Frame with 24 tiles with images of water were taxidermied after their death spirits and mythological creatures and sold. The link with wonder Antwerp, 1590-1609 cabinets, in which ‘rare’ species Maiolica, wood and artful ingenuity were means Collection MAS, collection Applied for exchanging knowledge, as well Arts and History (Vleeshuis), as to impress, is obvious. Delvoye inv. AV.1898.013.11-12 chose tattoos with a variety of 10 25 Stephen Jones (b. 1957, United 27 Sadaharu Horio (b. 1939-2018, Kobe) Kingdom) Untitled (Erotic scroll) Sway (hat) Wood engraving 1999 Collection Axel & May Vervoordt Pleated silk, glass beads, brass, Foundation, inv. A0618.270 imitation coral, synthetic raffia Collection MoMu Antwerp, 28 Mask (Ngady a mwaash) inv. B02/26, Collection Geert Kuba/Bushoong peoples, Democratic Bruloot - Eddy Michiels Republic of the Congo, early 20th century 26 Headdress Fabric, cowry shell, wood, raffia, metal, Kaiapo-Xikrin people, Rio-Xingu, batiste Brazil Collection MAS, collection Africa, Feather, vegetable material inv. AE.0331 Collection MAS, collection America, 29 Mask with handle inv. AE.2001.0024.0003 Lega people, Democratic Republic of the Congo, mid-20th century Few Amazonian peoples devote Wood, kaolin as much attention to their body Collection MAS, collection Africa, ornaments as the Kayapo. inv. AE.2003.0010.0015 They refer to themselves as Mebêngôkre—the ‘people of the 30 Shiro Tsujimura (b. 1947, Gose) watering places’. The way they Tea cup paint their bodies and ornament Japan, 2009 themselves with feathers has not Hikidashi-guro pottery only an aesthetic meaning, but also Collection Axel & May Vervoordt embodies a social and religious Foundation, inv. A0409.744 code. The decoration of the body is a visual language that conveys such 31 Fossilized dinosaur excrement things as the wearer’s age group, Burma, Mesozoic era his social position, what family he Collection Axel & May Vervoordt belongs to and the ritual privileges Foundation, inv. A1011.082 he therefore commands. The same way that birds are distinguished 32 Necklace from each other by their plumage, Presumably Somalia, 20th century the Kayapo stress their collective Silver and individual identity by Collection MAS, collection Africa, transforming themselves, as it inv. AE.1978.0043.0007 were, into bird-people. 10 11 33 Series of jars with animals in that was piled on shelves or hung from the formalin ceiling in the workshops. Scientific study objects 19th century 36 Collection of shells and ammonites Collection Axel Vervoordt Collection Axel & May Vervoordt Company, inv. A0805.010 Foundation, inv. A1205.174 34 Nautilus shell 37 Vase in the shape of a stylized owl Collection Axel & May Vervoordt China, Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 220) Foundation, inv. A0918.249 Earthenware Collection Axel Vervoordt Company, 35 Casting moulds inv. A1006.081 Delheid Frères, Brussels, ca. 1880-1940 38 Necklace Collection DIVA, inv. S2004/14 Tukano people, Rio Vaupès, Colombia Rope, silver Depending on the scale of the Collection MAS, collection America, company, the space available and inv.