It's a rat rat's world, M Leuven

^{Museum M}

^{Leuven, BE}

It’s a rat rat’s world

JUN.29–OCT.27.2024

1. It’s a rat rat’s world, 2024

Cast bronze, oxidation, unique editions
7 x 14 cm

Alongside, a copper etching print from the 18th century illustrates the fable of Jean de La Fontaine, Le chat et le vieux rat, which is borrowed from the museum’s collection.

2. Le Chat et un vieux Rat, 1755-1759

Copper engraving, ink on paper
28 x 41 cm (frame)

Jean Baptiste Oudry (illustrator)
Menil (printmaker)

^{exhibition text}
The cast traps interrogates what lives at the margins of society, questioning its dominant ideas and structures. In this exhibition Arthur introduces apparently functional mouse traps set in different parts of the museum. The traps evoke the presence (and absence) of pests, and the sense of unease they arouse. Since pests such as rodents can damage works of art, preventive measures are essential. The traps are cast using bronze, matter that is historically conserved in museums. By casting bronze mouse traps and presenting them as works of art, Arthur also raises the question of which objects deserve our attention and are worth protecting.

In dialogue with the bronze mouse traps, he places the 18th-century copper engraving ‘Le Chat et un vieux Rat’ (The Cat and an Old Rat), which illustrates the eponymous fable by Jean de La Fontaine. The copper engraving shows a rat tricked by a cat into a trap. Arthur selected the work after searching for representations of mice and rats in the M collection, with the help of the M museum's conservators. He drew a parallel between the M collection and unwanted rodents: on the one hand, works from the repository that are occasionally exhibited in the galleries, and on the other, pests that occasionally intrude on our everyday life.

Guest curator Brenda Guesnet curated the exhibition with work selected from 390 submissions. Twelve artists inspired by their everyday surroundings are brought together. They transform ordinary objects and situations into extraordinary works of art that touch on the more fundamental and mysterious aspects of life.

Mouse traps, supermarket receipts, crooked nails and abandoned driveways transcend their banality and invite us to reflect on the subtle nuances and hidden layers inherent in the structure of everyday life. The environments encountered in these works have blurred boundaries and resist clichés: they are homely but not convivial, urban but not cosmopolitan, rural but not pastoral.

Artists Koen Barra, Eva Claus, Arthur Cordier, An Devroe, Hanne Geerinckx and Irma Maria Marcel Janssens work around how the marginal can shape both individual and communal identity. Taking an analytical approach, they elevate objects that are usually ignored and breathe meaning into them. In turn, Maaike Beckx, Sigurrós G. Björnsdóttir, Bart Hendrickx, Katelijne Laroy, Carla Meertens and Delphine Somers integrate fantasy elements into the everyday, creating new dream worlds.

Link

Kindly supported by the Mondriaan Fonds
Pictures, courtesy Jente Waerzeggers