08 may 2009 – 13 June 2009

 In her installations, videoworks, drawings and sculptures Christine Clinckx combines influences and information taken from contemporary society, personal history and ‘ancient’ knowledge. Her works could be described as contemporary ‘symbols’, deeply rooted in Clinckx’ critical and sometimes activist engagement in the world as it is: a place of crisis and conflict, in which one has to fight to survive (physically and/or mentally).

 In Clinckx’ world/works, things are not what they seem. Often playful and joyful at first sight, her works contain traces of disgust, fear, anger, mourning and loss. Society being a permanent battlefield of frictions and conflicts, some of Clinckx’ works can be read as shelters or hiding places. They invite people to interact and find their place in the work, using it as a tool for comfort and consolation. In her videos and drawings, faces are hidden. Wigs and masks are used as secondary skins for survival and/or protection. Another important theme in her work is time/history and the way people deal with it. Processes of memory and amnesia are visualised and materialised by ‘reconstructing’ fragments of personal and/or familial histories. Seven Days consists of seven masks, one for every day of the week. Masks are are fundamental part of traditional and modern rituals. They hide and protect the persons wearing them, but they also transform and enlarge aspects of their (hidden) personality. Masks are tools both for protection and performance.

 Clinckx also took her inspiration from ancient mythology, in which the seven days are related to gods and planets, connecting the ‘daily’ and the personal with the universal and spiritual.  The seven masks are incarnations of days, gods and human emotions. They have sculptural qualities but shouldn’t be considered sculpture. Installed against the wall of the gallery, visitors are invited to try and use them and transform the gallery space into an area of ceremony or performance. The artist invites people to manipulate the chronological order of the days or to adopt several emotions. Playing becomes a subversive ritual against the order of things as we know it. Choosing a mask might already be an invitation for self-reflection, because it can be both a mirror and a disguise. To visualize the possibilities of performance and to invite visitors to join in, Clinckx asked  seven people to wear the masks in public space. The registration of this happening will be shown in the gallery. During the opening of the show, Christine Clinckx will do the peformance Burning Mask in front of the gallery.