Trance-Action. A meditative stroll through the collection - from Baloji to Van Severen

‘Trance-Action’ takes us through traditional weaving techniques, the production of car parts and the processing of raw materials into construction material. An object is created through a repetitive and often lightning-fast movement of hands and bodies. Small-scale manufacturing and major industries initiate the same rhythmic process: the maker makes. The hypnotic cadence of the action turns man into machine. At that point, the activity takes over from the Self and haste makes way for serenity. ‘Trance-Action’ leads us to this specific tipping point between restlessness and rest. It examines the way in which repetition and patterns can free us from the hustle and bustle and connect us with our inner being.

“We are all marionettes in an absurdist theatre whose elementary rationality could actualize, at least theoretically, our communal destiny and the precariousness of a common human condition.” (Sammy Baloji)

With work by Giovanni Anselmo, Richard Artschwager, Sammy Baloji, Guy Berbé, Rob Birza, Kasper Bosmans, Marcel Broodthaers, Daniel Buren, Pol Bury, Sara Sejin Chang (Sara van der Heide), Guy Degobert, Jo Delahaut, Jan Dries, René Heyvaert, Ann Veronica Janssens, Gabriel Kuri, Walter Leblanc, Marcel Maeyer, Valérie Mannaerts, Marcel Mariën, Hana Miletić, Mario Merz, Marc Nagtzaam, Grace Ndiritu, Roger Nellens, Jozef Peeters, Giuseppe Penone, Marc Rossignol, Richard Serra, Éric Van Hove, Dan Van Severen, Georges Vantongerloo, Marthe Wéry

With sound installation by Céline Mathieu

Curators: Leroy Meyer, Sofie Dierickx & Vincent Van Laeken (Curatorial Studies KASK Gent)