Simon Starling

The installation is on view every day from sunset to midnight from the exterior of Wiels Avenue Van Volxem 354 - 1190 Brussels

From the 14th of March to the 22nd of April, Wiels presents a first artistic project of exception in its future location to announce its forthcoming opening.

Each night, from sunset to midnight, a new film by Simon Starling will be projected in the brewery room of the former Wielemans-Ceuppens breweries currently in renovation. The work was commissioned to the English artist Simon Starling from the start of the restoration of Wiels in 2005, with the rehabilitation of the "Blomme" – the corner building of the former Wielemans-Ceuppens breweries – into a center for contemporary art as the starting point of the work.

The artist, winner of the Turner Prize 2005, replied to the invitation of Wiels with a long aesthetic and historical investigation, which led him from the Atomium to Marcel Broodthaers. In the end, Starling has chosen to project a black and white animation film on a large screen as the hybrid fruit of his experimentations. The film shows the image of a silver particle derived from a negative of a photograph documenting the restoration of the Atomium produced by an electronic microscope. Reconstituted in celluloid and enlarged, the spectral figure of the particle will be projected on a black and white 35 mm film in loop in the brewery hall, illuminating the public face of Wiels.

With this gesture, the artist gives the opportunity to those who, by choice or by chance, pass by the building not only to experience a unique and fascinating artwork, but also to enjoy seeing this jewel of modernist architecture finally revived.

To accompany this event, Wiels organizes a lecture series by specialists of various disciplines examined by Starling in his work: architecture, photography and the relationships between the scientific optical tools and art.

A poster designed by the artist in collaboration with the graphic designer Sara De Bondt will be printed and distributed in Belgium.

Simon Starling
Particle Projection (Loop)