Sketch for Paweł Althamer's Agnus Dei
The Van Eyck Brothers' famous altarpiece comes alive with the collective participation of 200 inhabitants of the city, staged as a monumental one-off performance in the iconic Place Saint-Pierre
Volunteers take part in Paweł Althamer's latest live-action installation in their true life roles as politicians, ambassadors, artists, judges, shopkeepers, housewives, who pay tribute to the lamb on the altar. This contemporary perspective is a ritualistic event meant to examine the current state of spirituality and human relationships. Althamer's goal is to get people who are in close contact with one another without knowing each other to interact. The performance is in fact meant to serve as a collective experience that creates a temporary community that ponders the contemporary notion of spirituality and ritual. At twilight the artist calls for a single moment of absolute silence when which the scene can be viewed in its full glory. His "actors" will then disperse and resume their regular activities. The choir De 2de Adem will perform the Philipp Glass piece "Quand les hommes vivront l’amour, il y aura de la paix".
Pawel Althamer (born 1967) combines the visual experience with suggestive socially-minded messages. His artistic practice is based on a participative approach to art, founded on the belief that art can impart change. Since Althamer’s focus is on the communicative and community-forming power of art, some of his works leave hardly any material trace, based on the live sculptural and performative traditions. He has often hired people who are not affiliated with the art world in any way to take part in his action pieces, from his 1992 performance that cast homeless people as "observers" of a promotional campaign for a daily paper to his 2009-2011 "alien landings" of groups of volunteers from Poland who arrive in the capitals of the west as beings from "another world", their purported differences highlighted by their golden space suits and guilt airplane.
As the most recognisable work by the brothers Hubrecht and Jan van Eyck, The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb (completed 1432, viewable today at St. Bavo's Cathedral in Ghent) presents the lamb of God (traditionally representative of the Christian martyr Jesus) worshipped by a group of angels, martyrs, prophets and apostles. It is one of the first painted altar pieces in Europe and an iconic work of Christian art in the west, also one of the most popular tourist attractions in Ghent.
Track is an ongoing art event (12.05.2012 - 16.09.2012) set within the public space of Ghent, meant to engage residents with the city, its history and its inhabitants, welcoming them into a conversation on the human condition of the present day. Visitors are invited to follow their own track through the various projects, offering a liberal, multi-layered experience that aims to mirror the idea of plural realities in the global world. It is organised by Paweł Althamer's project is part of 41 individual projects rooted in the unique urban fabric of Ghent, which draw upon issues of widespread international significance. Paweł Althamer's piece is a one-off event, taking place on the 8th of September at sundown.
For more information on the festival, see: track.be
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Curators: Philippe Van Cauteren and Mirjam Varadinis
Editor: Agnieszka Le Nart
Source: Track, Polish Embassy in Belgium