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M HKA reserves its fifth floor for surprising interventions and intimate pop-up presentations. INBOX is a place that inspires and surprises, one that offers us a glimpse into the world of passionate thinkers and doers. With INBOX, M HKA creates a physical space in which the museum addresses often-recurring questions.

In the periods between the various events, we present a selection of our collection works, with particular attention to video art.

INBOX can be visited for free.

 

For his presentation at M HKA, Leo Copers will show a new site-specific installation in the museum's INBOX space. It is part of his retrospective exhibition DREAMS ARE MADE FROM THIS 1968 - 2018, that is being shown in different chapters in S.M.A.K., BOZAR, M-Museum Leuven and Middelheimmuseum.

Copers' creation involves a staging, that is to say a decor consisting of symbolically connected objects and instructions/titles that – together – develop their own storyline. The spectator is confronted with a monumental (false) gold bar that is illuminated theatrically, placed in a glass case on a red carpet. The presence of a severe looking guard and a whole series of 'codes of conduct' complete the scene. The visitors are – like in a church or a place of worship – asked to keep silent, to behave exemplary and to wear appropriate clothing. Like in a temple, persons wanting to step on the carpet are also asked to take off their shoes.

It seems as if the artist has rolled out the red carpet for this symbol of wealth and capitalism.

But as in many of the other works in which Copers made use of gold bars in the past, doubtlessly, this work also has a critical aspect.

First, it is a museum presentation. Leo Copers asks us, point blank: why do we behave in a special way in an environment created by him? What commands our respect? The fact that we are in an art institution, where everything that is on display suddenly seems to have an added value? What is the difference between art and a (consumer) product?

Copers' work is about power and its abuse, about the importance of money in our society, about our obsession with work and the worship of work. In the bible there is the well-known story about the worship of The Golden Calf, as a metaphor for idolatry.

In fact, the same phenomena all too often dominate the art world, both financially and in terms of ideas.

But with this satirical situation/performance, the artist shows us that things can be done differently and that ‘all that glitters is not gold.’

- Hilde Teerlinck