CONTEXT 100 years Big Bang theory by the Leuven based professor George Lemaître was celebrated with a large city festival and exposition in Leuven at the end of 2021. My work was selected to be the centerpiece of the exposition "Knal! Our startling universe". Every day I fed a blank black canvas by spraying sugar water over a soil of agarose, proteins and minerals, precipitating environmental fungi that grew into visibility. They seemed like galaxies in a jet-black universe.
ARTIST STATEMENT “The world is full of fungus, every second we breathe in dozens of spores. This work deals with a parallel world, hidden from view. By nourishing the fungi, I make this world visible and at the same time create a new one. I embody George Lemaître who nurtured science with his theory, or even the Big Bang itself... who heralded the start of the universe with his energy.”
LINK WITH PRACTICE A next step in my personal quest towards an essential truth. What is most important can only be expressed horizontally, in relation to other beings and phenomena of degeneration (illness and disease) and regeneration, in which I need to find my own role, whether it is as manipulator of the environment, creator of content, medical doctor, friend or foe.
However, the importance of fungi in this world is unmistakable. They break materials down to enable new growth. Crops and forests depend on their mycelial networks in the soil to thrive. My fascination for our hidden friend can be found in this work.
CONSTANT TRANSITION The work is alive, fungal colonies come and go. The materials decay and peel off. The work won't ever be the same.
CURRENTLY The work is now exhibited in the Verbeke Foundation for the exposition "Sans dieu, sans maître, sans roi et sans droits."
