For over twenty years, Denicolai & Provoost have worked as an artist duo. They present an overview of their work and for the first time show their animation film 'HELLO, ARE WE IN THE SHOW?'.
For more than twenty years, the artist duo Simona Denicolai (b. 1972, Milan, Italy) and Ivo Provoost (b. 1974, Diksmuide, Belgium) have been working on a multidisciplinary practice that seeks to disrupt our normal ways of thinking and routine behaviour. Using protocols and scenarios that they have devised, and which are firmly rooted in a place’s unique characteristics, the pair involve people, objects and stories as ‘collaborators’ in their artistic process. The exchanges that these evoke are embedded in a local reality, whilst also touching upon universal themes such as citizenship, identity and solidarity.
They describe their process-based working method as ‘sculptural action’, and it includes practices that decouple existing elements from their familiar context, rearrange them, or connect them to new forms. These are reflected in a plethora of forms such as performances, video work, installations, models and studies, all of which derive meaning from the interpretation of art as an active concept.
The exhibition provides an extensive overview of Denicolai & Provoost’s work and offers the first museum presentation of their recent animated film ‘HELLO, ARE WE IN THE SHOW?’ (2019). The film is a co-production with S.M.A.K. and has been converted into an impressive installation for the occasion.
Ward Bogaert of Radio 1 went to S.M.A.K. and talked to artist Ivo Provoost about the work Eyeliner (Ghent), 2020. Listen to the report in Dutch below.
For this exhibition, Denicolai & Provoost selected objects they found on Ghent windowsills during a number of city walks. With the consent of the owners, the objects were made available via loans for this temporary composition in the museum. Meanwhile, the windowsills state: "The object usually displayed behind this window is on loan for another exhibition, in S.M.A.K., from 12 February to 30 May 2021. Our apologies for the inconvenience."
After this presentation, the loans will return to their permanent location. From then on, the original 'exhibition' can be visited in the city, using the guide compiled by Denicolai & Provoost.
On Thursday 6 May at 8 pm Moniek Darge (Logos Foundation) will give a sound performance on the 'Duchamp Harp' (realised by Godfried-Willem Raes, Logos Foundation), an object from 'Eyeliner (Ghent)'.
