31.12.2022
Ship of Fools
Transports of Delight?
Extra muros
Design Museum Gent is expanding and is therefore closed until 2026. The ideal moment to travel with the collection to other locations. The first stop is the FRAC Grand Large in Dunkirk.
Transport: have we lost our way or can we do without it? The yearning for constant transport is what the exhibition Ship of Fools in the FRAC is all about. The co-production brings together surprising objects from the Design Museum Gent collection with a selection of films and works by various artists from the FRAC. The exhibition focuses on the transport craze: objects, materials and people travel ever more frequently and quickly. Perhaps this exhibition is a farewell to our opulently materialistic society?
The exhibition nods to Ship of Fools, the painting by Hieronymus Bosch in which alienated characters set sail in a makeshift boat, hoping to discover a miracle or another reality somewhere along the way. The spirit of Bosch’s vessel haunts the exhibition. Curator Mathilde Sauzet has chosen objects from the collection that tell a story, full of humour, kitsch and imagination. She juxtaposes these 20th century design objects with films and photographs by contemporary artists to create an extraordinary field of tension in a scenography by designer Julien Carretero.
