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Brussels contemporary art centre WIELS is hosting an exhibition by Belgian sculptor Didier Vermeiren until 8 January 2023.
The exhibition, named Double Exposition, shows off Vermeiren’s sculptures and photographs. While it includes recent works, it is also a retrospective, with some sculptures going as far back as 1973.
Vermeiren initially took pictures of his sculptures to document them. Now, these photographs have become part of his creative process, allowing the viewers to see the art in a different light, as it were.
While Didier Vermeiren was born in Brussels, this is his first major exhibition in the capital of Europe in thirty-five years, but that doesn’t mean Vermeiren has kept quiet. In fact, his works have rather travelled the world, from the MoMA in New York to the Biennale in Venice, passing by the Jeu de Paume art centre in Paris.
The sculptures have a link with another famous artist who called Brussels home for a while: the French sculptor Auguste Rodin, who lived in Brussels during the 1870s and referred to his time in Belgium as one of the most wonderful periods of his life. Rodin used casting a lot in his work, and this inspired Didier Vermeiren to embrace the process of casting to create links between different works.
The exhibition runs into the new year, at the WIELS museum in the Brussels commune of Forest. The building itself is noteworthy as well, having served as the headquarters of Wielemans-Ceuppens, a former Brussels beer brewery that operated for over a century, from 1883 to 1988.
