Jef Geys’ Gelijkheid, Brüderlichkeit, Liberté, 1986 &
Rachel Harrison’s Informasjonsskilt, 2022

Maxwell Graham / Essex Street, New York
July 12 – August 18, 2023

In the summer of 1986, Jan Hoet curated an exhibition, Chambres d’Amis, for the Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst, Ghent, in which he invited 51 artists to install works in private homes across the city. The invited artists included Carla Accardi, Daniel Buren, Günther Förg, Dan Graham, Jannis Kounellis, Sol LeWitt, Mario Merz, Marisa Merz, Juan Muñoz, Bruce Nauman, Maria Nordman, Paul Thek, Niele Toroni and Lawrence Weiner. Of the 51 invited artists, 50 chose to install their art in bourgeois homes. Jef Geys was the one exception. Geys proposed to and collaborated with 6 individuals living in low-income housing. In each apartment, Geys installed a door painted with the 3 slogans of the French Revolution: Liberty, Equality, Fraternity but writ in the 3 official languages of Belgium: French, German, Dutch. Which slogan was rendered in which language shifted with each door arbitrarily. All 6 doors, although functionally hinged to a frame, were installed against a wall, opening up to nowhere. Furthermore, Geys invited each collaborator to use a page of the exhibition catalogue to share their condition and response as they chose. The door currently exhibited at Maxwell Graham Gallery, Gelijkheid, Brüderlichkeit, Liberté, was initially exhibited at Ingrid Verdonck’s apartment. Verdonck wrote:

As a single mother with two children, unemployed and about 9000 to make ends meet each month, I don't feel the need so much to see art in the museum anymore. As I sit in this little damp house watching my children grow up, I often think: what will become of them later? But yes, later what is that?

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Informasjonsskilt, 2022 was made on site at the Astrup Fearnley Museum, Oslo as part of Rachel Harrison’s solo exhibition Sitting in a Room. The work is made out of the material of the museum, its information stands and signage.

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For more information, please visit Maxwell Graham / Essex Street's website.