The exhibitions Urgent Conversations: Athens–Antwerp and Urgent Conversations: Antwerp – Athens are a collaboration between EMST and M HKA, a theoretical and visual dialogue, based on works from the collections of both museums, which includes more than 70 works structured in 22 topics.   

28.04.2017 - 07.01.2018        

M HKA, Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst Antwerpen - Leuvenstraat 32, 2000 Antwerpen

EMST, National Museum of Contemporary Art - Kallirrois Avenue & Amvr. Frantzi Str., Athens 11743

Jimmie Durham

Arc de Triomphe for Personal Use (Turquoise), 1997
Sculpture , 250 x 150 x 100 cm
painted metal

"The main piece in the show in Calais was an Arc de Triomphe For Personal Use. It’s made of wood, so it’s lightweight and you can fold it up and take it away with you and set it up again, each time you need it. Whenever you felt like you had a triumph you could set it up and walk through it. The wood was painted bright red, yellow and blue—the art colors.

I still like the piece, no one else has really liked it. I liked it so much that I even copied it for the Istanbul Biennial, last year, but I did it out of iron so it wouldn’t look so cute, and it was painted turquoise, because the show was in Turkey. It was a way of making iron look very light, like a drawing in air. It also folds up nicely and has wheels like a wheelbarrow." [full text here]