Fireflies exhibition
Fireflies exhibition
In partnership with the Royal Museums of Art and History, La Cambre invites you to the FIREFLIES exhibition, a unique dialogue between works from the past and contemporary creations. An aesthetic and sensory experience, at a time when the art of ceramics, one of the oldest and most universal, has never been so much in vogue.
While the museum is a place for the conservation and study of artistic and historical collections, providing privileged access to a wide variety of unique pieces from different eras and civilisations, it is also a place where ancient and contemporary art can rub shoulders, confront each other and engage in dialogue.
An original and surprising journey through three of the MRAH's collections - ancient Greek ceramics, pre-Columbian pottery and 18th-century European ceramics - the Fireflies exhibition presents the work of 20 young artists from La Cambre, all of whom share a passion for clay and fire.
For the event, the scenography has been designed using recycled materials by the Masters in Interior Architecture. They work with the immateriality of light, and take an ironic approach to the showcases, raising the question of the exhibition's modus operandi, playing on slight transgressions and manipulations. They pay tribute to the often-forgotten material, to the very process of ceramics and fire, transforming what is usually thrown away into an essential component of their expression.
Alongside the young ceramists and architects, La Cambre's visual and graphic communications workshop developed the entire identity for the exhibition. This editorial design work extends from the logo to the labels, from the poster to the catalogue, from the museum to the networks.
Fireflies ?
According to historian and philosopher Georges Didi-Huberman, fireflies are a metaphor for the hope that illuminates our times.
Their small fire shifts the gaze to create other experiences. In ceramics jargon, low-fire firing is also known as decoration firing, the 3rd firing that adds ornamentation to the glazed piece.
More than ever, contemporary art is fascinated by the potential of clay and the age-old knowledge that surrounds it. This craze may be short-lived, but ceramics will continue to reinvent itself. Like the fireflies that appear furtively, then disappear in an eternal cycle. Fireflies that open our eyes, cultivate our minds and illuminate our thoughts.
Fireflies is supported by Les Amis de La Cambre and Friends of the Royal Museums of Art and History.
The project is coordinated by Caroline Andrin, head of the Ceramics workshop at ENSAV La Cambre; Serge Lemaître, Curator, Americas Collection at the MRAH; Natacha Massar, Curator, Greece Collection at the MRAH; Valérie Montens, Curator, European Ceramics Collection at the MRAH, and teacher in Conservation and Restoration of Works of Art at ENSAV La Cambre.
PRESS CONTACTS
Anne Gofart, MRAH public relations coordinator (FR)
a.goffart@kmkg-mrah.be + 32 (0)473 813 642
Sabrina Lefrançois, Communication Manager, La Cambre (FR)
communication@lacambre.be + 32 (0)0496 54 77 62
Bart Suys, Fundraising & Patronage Manager, MRAH (NL)
b.suys@kmkg-mrah.be +32 (0)477 90 96 45
