Info

Type
Exhibition (concept)

Year
2019

Design
Jasper Goris

Images
Jasper Goris

‘The Moravian Diogenes’ is an exhibition of the work of Moravian photographer Miroslav Tichý (°1926 +2011) in the old Citroën garage in Brussels, which has been converted into exhibition space (KANAL). Tichý’s works consist mainly of distorted and blurred photographs that he made with his selfconstructed cardboard cameras. These works are exhibited side by side with works by other artists, such as the photographic art of Dirk Braeckman and the ‘Phenomenal Feminateek’ by Louis Paul Boon.

Despite the (slightly) erotic images, this exhibition wants to be accessible to all ages. That is why the exhibition is divided into two parts. The nude through the eyes of Tichý in the first part is only accessible to visitors over sixteen. The second part shows the different cardboard cameras and film fragments about Tichý’s life.

Cardboard, the basic material with which Tichý made his cameras, is an interesting material to set the theme for the scenography. Paper and cardboard are not only used as decoration and packaging material but also as a building material. They also appear in numerous projects of the Japanese architect Shigeru Ban. The exhibition ‘The Moravian Diogenes’ is composed of 12 cardboard containerlike volumes in 3 different formats. The supporting modular structure consists of cardboard tubes and is covered on the outside with panels of recycled moulded cardboard. The works of art are hung in the containers on paper that are stretched around the tubes and thus form an interplay of open and closed.

The closed nature of the cardboard volumes appeals to the curiosity of the outsider: “What is there to see?” Inside, the containers offer the security and discretion needed to view the photos calmly and to frame and appreciate them in their time spirit.

The volumes have been placed in such a way that they form a route that disorientates the visitors in the gigantic spaces of the KANAL. The aim is that the viewer should be able to isolate himself from his surroundings and focus on the theme of the exhibition.