In November 1990, almost at the beginning of his career, Jean De Groote exhibited at Parbleu his project “Chair in Time II – No Observer – No Object”. The first part had been shown in the Triennial for Contemporary Art ‘Van Stof tot Asse’, organised by Jan De Smedt. Just as in the first part a chair played a central part, but it could have been any other object. It was a way to explore spatiality and representation. As I wrote at the time:

Observation keeps fascinating De Groote. Observation is not only seeing, but at the same time trying to fathom underlying ideas and causes. The chair plays in this process an arbitrary role. Any other object in any other colour will suffice. It just happened to be this chair with which form, time and content are approached. Over time it is a bearer of memories.

This philosophical approach has always been important in De Groote’s work. The text is curiously topical when I regard the body of work that he has produced since then. Due to this archival work we got back in touch and I am happy to contribute to the publication dedicated to his work In de stilte van de dingen (In the Silence of Things) that will be published in November of this year, exactly thirty years later.

Find the dedicated page with more information to this exhibition here.

Please note: I am trying to find photos and other documentation made during this and other exhibitions I curated as most of my own material is lost – please contact me if you have anything that I could add to the archive. Thank you.