Through Bone and Marrow gets under the skin and down to the bones. Curator Maarten Spruyt’s exhibition forces visitors to self-examination and a different relationship to nature and technology. A new aesthetic offers an opening to the future.
We live in the Anthropocene, the age of man. Never before has a single species made such a powerful impact on the environment. Meanwhile, we become entangled in our own garbage, enslaved by our equipment, and our senses dulled. We threaten to destroy the planet but may lose ourselves, our humanity before that time.
A new aesthetic
In Through Bone and Marrow, sixteen artists from the Netherlands and abroad present new, alternative connections between man, nature and technology. They go beyond existing contradictions between organic and inorganic, plant and animal, living and dead. Leading in this is a new aesthetic that offers space for discomfort, imperfection and the beauty of decay. Through Bone and Marrow is a wake-up call with soft alarm bells.
The exhibition covers most of Brutus, about 6000 m2, and feels like one big organism. The backbone is formed by four large installations by Zimoun, Maarten Vanden Eynde, Frank Bruggeman and Mirte van Laarhoven. They were made especially for this occasion.
The mixed form plays a major role in Through Bone and Marrow. In Maartje Korstanje’s sculptures, for example, insect, fossil and flora flow seamlessly into one another. The works with which Giulia Cenci caused a sensation at the last Venice Biennale completely dissolve the distinction between man and tools. And Vladimir Zbynovsky brings stone to life by intimately combining the material with glass.
Not only the eyes but also the ears are activated. For example, through Zimoun’s minimalist construction of cardboard boxes, which produces a mechanical and rhythmic sound. It makes you reflect on the aesthetic quality of simple packaging material, but it also taps into a primal source of energy. And Sirens by Joris Strijbos touch you to the depths of your fibers with their lure.
Through Bone and Marrow is a physical experience aimed at sharpening the senses. This experience is enhanced by the raw, unslicked environment of Brutus where the paint is peeling off the wall, it is cold and dark, and everything squeaks and creaks. Visitors are admitted to the exhibition circuit one by one so that they are extra receptive to the environment and works of art.
Through Bone and Marrow is curated by Maarten Spruyt. His exhibitions are associative stories in which atmosphere plays the leading role. Spruyt has been working on assignments for Van Gogh Museum and Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen since the 1990s. He recently made Chapter 3Hree in Het Hem and Meesterlijk Zwart in Kunstmuseum Den Haag.
Image: Nick Ervinck
