Valérie Mannaerts

When you make a reservation for an expo, you can go whenever you intend to between the opening and closing of the exhibition. The confirmation email refers to the first date of the exhibition.

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Valérie Mannaerts’ versatile oeuvre is shaped by intuition, material and sensory experience. In ‘Antennae’, Mannaerts reflects on thirty years of artistic practice while also presenting new work. She explores questions such as: what is the autonomy of an object? What story can an object tell? And how does sculpture relate to space and the viewer?

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The exhibition’s title is revealing. On the one hand, Mannaerts refers to the feelers that insects use to explore their environment; on the other, the title serves as a metaphor for her own artistic sensitivity. It evokes the ‘antennae’ with which she, as an artist, forges subtle and complex connections between her world, her work, the viewer, and the exhibition space.

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In the late 1990s, Mannaerts made her debut with works on paper in which she explored her own body and sexuality. Following in the footsteps of female artists from the 1960s and 1970s, for example Eva Hesse, she developed a distinctive and adventurous visual language rooted in organic and amorphous forms. In 2003, Mannaerts represented Belgium at the Venice Biennale together with the artist Sylvie Eyberg. She later broadened her practice to focus increasingly on sculpture.

She has explored this medium extensively. When does an object become a sculpture? Does it have to stand independently in space? And what role do light and shadow play? This focus on sculpture also deepened Mannaerts’ interest in architecture, spatiality and the relationship with the human body. She translates these concerns into installations, paintings, textile works, kimonos, functional objects, and public-space commissions that engage directly with their surroundings.

A publication by Walther König Verlag will be released to coincide with ‘Antennae’.

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Valérie Mannaerts (b. 1974, Brussels) lives and works in Brussels. She studied at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Ghent and was a resident at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam and the International Studio & Curatorial Programme (ISCP) in New York.

She represented Belgium at the Venice Biennale in 2003 and has held solo exhibitions at Marres, Maastricht (1999); the Friends of S.M.A.K. Association , Ghent (2000); De Appel, Amsterdam (2010); Extra City Kunsthal, Antwerp (2010); and BOZAR, Brussels (2013). 

Her work is included in the collections of Mu.ZEE, Ostend; FOMU, Antwerp; the Middelheim Museum, Antwerp; and the Flemish Community. She has also realized numerous works in public spaces.