Koenraad Dedobbeleer

The Experience of Hell Would Be Like Going Around a World’s Fair of National Humour (Limited edition)

2023

Spray painted metal, wood, magnets, and offset prints on Araveal paper

55 x 45 x 25 cm

Edition of 10 copies numbered and signed by the artist on a certificate, plus 4 artist’s proofs

Regular edition available here

Price: on request

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The edition

The two posters that compose this edition are photographs of ancient twin doors spotted by the artist in Palermo, Sicily. Except for their subtle but distinct marks of aging, the two parts could be seen as perfectly symmetrical, as if they were mirroring one another. In fact, the form and the content of this diptych echo the structure of the venue where it was first exhibited: a noticeboard on the streets of Seoul, made of two connecting windows. For the limited edition conceived by the artist, this duality is further emphasized by an ingenious system that was fabricated using metal, wood and magnets — the latest example in Koenraad Dedobbeleer’s long-standing exploration of devices to display images. Here, the images do not just stand side by side; they face each other, thereby strongly situating the viewer as part of a triangular configuration. The sculpture tests our binocular vision and makes us aware of our physical relation to it. In this self-reflexive process, the gaze becomes a central subject of the work. Yet, the movement of the two posters as we pass by, or even as we breathe, reminds us of its inherent lightness and playfulness.

The artist

Koenraad Dedobbeleer クーンラード・ドゥドブレール — Drawing by Claude Mannaerts

Koenraad Dedobbeleer was born in 1975 in Halle (Belgium). He is currently living and working in Brussels.

Dedobbeleer is known for his sculptures and installations in which everyday objects (such as lamp, key holder, door knob, or plant pot) are modified, assembled, and recontextualized with a distinctive tongue-in-cheek – and at times even burlesque – spirit. Adorned with absurd (randomly chosen) titles, his works can be seen as joyful collisions of language and matter. Yet, this approach is not merely an act of formal entertainment. Nourished by an in-depth knowledge of art history and (seemingly) inexhaustible technical resources, the artist’s work establishes an ongoing dialogue with a broader tradition of sculpture, including its relation to architecture, industrial design, DIY culture, images, and book making. The purpose of this ambitious endeavor seems to be an exploration of objecthood, of what being an object could mean.

Koenraad Deddobbeleer’s work has been widely exhibited in institutional venues such as WIELS (Brussels, Belgium); Kunstmuseum Winterthur (Winterthur, Switzerland); Kunstverein Hannover (Hannover, Germany); MMOMA (Moscow, Russia); Liverpool Biennial (Liverpool, United Kingdom); Extra City (Antwerp, Belgium); Credac (Paris, France); De Vleeshal (Middelburg, The Netherlands); Bienal do Mercosul (Porto Alegre, Brazil); Culturgest (Lisbon, Portugal); and Museum Abteiberg (Mönchengladbach, Germany).

His work is represented by C L E A R I N G (Brussels, Los Angeles, New York), Mai 36 Galerie (Zurich), Maniera Galerie (Brussels), and ProjectSD (Barcelona).

The exhibition