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
The head of a reptile-like mouse is attached with yellow tape to a construction. This small head, painted in bright red and with one Plexiglas ear, is an armadillo' - an endangered animal with an armor consisting of strong bony plates, covered by horny skin. The animal is found in South and Central America and in the south-central states of the United States. Amongst other things, he eats animal remains and some believe that it searches for human remains on cemeteries. A black and white photograph is attached to the sculpture, at breast height. The picture seems to 'speak the language' of a B-movie. There are two figures: a dominant man in a black suit keeps another one imprisoned: a man with naked torso, tied to a chair with ropes. Durham purposely makes a 'speech error': the dominant man does not threaten the other with a pistol, but with the small head of an armadillo.