Pierre-Laurent Cassière at Atelier Jespers
An experiential installation by Pierre-Laurent Cassière at Atelier Jespers aims to subvert perceptions of famous Modernist building during Art Brussels.
French artist Pierre-Laurent Cassière is taking over Atelier Jespers with a site-specific installation of photography, video and sound. The exhibition, Disproportions, is directly inspired by the modernist purism of the building, originally the studio and gallery of Belgian sculptor Oscar Jespers. Designed by Jesper’s friend, Victor Bourgeois in 1928, the 400sqm Modernist interior was a favoured gathering place for avant-garde artists in the late 1920s.
“We received your plan,” wrote the municipality of Woluwe-Saint-Lambert to Bourgeois in 1928. “We notice that this facade reflects an originality, which might cause protests from inhabitants of the neighbourhood … Windows are very disproportionate.”
Cassière’s artworks engage directly with the scale of the house in an attempt to replace the architectural aesthetic of the house with that of the body and perception. A Masters graduate from Villa Arson, National Art School in Nice, Cassière’s work takes an archaeological approach to media. Using kinetic sculpture, expanded cinema, and video and sound installation, his experiential poetic works deconstruct the limits of our perception.
The exhibition runs from April 19 to 23, alongside Art Brussels, and thereafter is open by appointment until May 21.