MUSÉE EN OEUVRE(S) (A MUSEUM IN ARTWORK(S))

The first exhibition to take place at the BPS22, A Museum in Artwork(s) prefigured the museum project from as early as 2000, with over 180 pieces from the Hainaut Province collection. Notable features were Flute, a gouache by René Magritte from his ​‘cow period’, a photograph by Eric Poitevin, a ​‘portrait’ of Jean Jaurès, executed by Art & Language in the style of Jackson Pollock, a ​‘sim­u­la­tion­ary’ photograph of Cindy Sherman, and even con­tem­po­rary art forms such as the video by Edith Dekyndt and Laurence Dervaux, or the instal­la­tion by Aimé Ntakiyica.

The collection began promptly in 1913 and initially focused on provincial heritage, before pro­gres­sive­ly opening up to Belgian and inter­na­tion­al artists. Through their work, these artists illuminate, measure, single out or revaluate art forms which have emerged in Hainaut. The organ­i­sa­tion of the exhibition encouraged con­fronta­tion and cross-readings of the works. Rather than a uniquely stylistic, thematic or technical artic­u­la­tion, the pieces responded to each other, and this interaction created the possibility of aesthetic, soci­o­log­i­cal, historical, or even political readings of the collection.

Exhibition: Pierre-Olivier Rollin