You reap what you sow • Class by Mélanie Rainville

References to the plant world are not new in artist studios and exhibition spaces, but they have tended to multiply in recent years. In this cycle, art historian and research manager at ISELP Mélanie Rainville explores how they have evolved over the decades, and proposes to situate them in a narrative. In 1977, the artist and art historian Jacques (Van) Lennep unveils Le Jardin. Readings and Relations, an international group exhibition that takes place at the National Botanic Garden of Belgium (Brussels), and an artwork-publication alternating artistic photos and historical, sociological, scientific texts. Resolutely innovative, this project bringing together art and science in a non-dedicated space gives unprecedented importance to the garden in contemporary art. Fifty years later, the content of this exhibition and this book reveals historical ways of mobilizing the subject. Put in relation with works produced during the following decades, it allows us to observe certain evolutions of the intersections between art and the garden. What are these evolutions? Are they clear or diffuse? Do they allow us to observe the relationship that human beings maintain with their natural environment? This cycle proposes to choose, among a wide diversity of artistic gestures, those that refer to the earth, the plant world, and green spaces to address four dimensions of the garden: knowledge, territory, resources, and transformation. To do this, it will draw on the works of Belgian and international artists such as Pierre Culot, Eline De Clercq, Pierre Courtois, herman de vries, Mark Dion, Lise Duclaux, Jef Geys, Kapwani Kiwanga, Leen Lybeer, Anne Marie Maes or Anahita Norouzi. Opening statements by art historians around their research will punctuate the cycle. • • • • • Session: 8€ / 0€* Cycle: 28€ / 0€* 21.10 – 12.11 – 26.11 – 10.12 *Free for all events upon presentation of proof: Members of ISELP and FAP, job seekers, students under 26, teachers, CPAS beneficiaries, Article 27 partners