MOUSEION
2022
Authors: Nick Ervinck, Sabine Himmelsbach, Doo Eun Choi, Marek Wolynski, Esther Solomon, Areti Adam, Marjan Doom, Jon Wood and Freddy Decreus
Design: Nick Ervinck and Denis Decaluwe
Publisher: Studio Nick Ervinck
Printing: Cassochrome
English
pages: 140
Hardcover: 21,6 x 16 cm
ISBN: 978 908196 716 7
D/2022/NickErvinck/Limited edition artistsbook numbered and signed.
Nick Ervinck - MOUSEIOIN book
NICK ERVINCK (° 1981) graduated in 2003 from the KASK (Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Ghent) with a master's degree in Mixed Media. He then trained in computer modeling, sculpting and working with materials such as polyester, plaster and wood.
His work consists of large installations, handmade and 3D printed sculptures, ceramics, prints, drawings, light boxes and animated films.
As diverse as this art production may be, above all, he remains fascinated by the "negative space" as he discovered it with classical sculptors such as Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth. The finding that a "hole" in matter is such a young idea will probably haunt him for the rest of his life. As a child of his time, he plays a varying game between the physical and virtual world, using both classic and new craftsmanship (computers, 3D printing and milling). From here he explores in his own unique way classical themes such as man (with a focus on his anatomy and the emergence of cyborgs), plants (especially their genetic manipulation), masks and animals, always starting from an (art) historical background that he cuts with contemporary pop and sci-fi culture.
He has received several prizes: Prix Godecharle (2005), The Fortis Young Ones Award (2006), the Provincial Prize for Fine Arts West Flanders (2006) and the Rodenbach Fund Award (2008). In 2013 Ervinck also won the prestigious Merit CODA Award for his art integration IMAGROD
He founded Studio Nick Ervinck in 2011. His work has been acquired by art collectors around the world and shown in solo and group exhibitions at NRW-Forum Düsseldorf; Ars Electronics, Linz; MARTa, Herford; Paul Valéry Museum, Sète; Fenaille Museum, Rodez; Laboral, Gijon; Museum Beelden aan Zee, Scheveningen; Bozar, Brussels; Brakke Grond, Amsterdam; S.M.A.K., Ghent; Gallo-Roman Museum, Tongeren; Museum Dr. Guislain, Ghent; Vanhaerents Art Collection, Brussels; Museum M, Leuven; the Museum of Fine Arts, Ghent and the Middelheim Museum, Antwerp.
Outside Europe, Ervinck took his first steps with group exhibitions in Shanghai, Tokyo, Flagstaff and New York.
source: Nick Ervinck
This modern incarnation of the MOUSEION—the home of scholarly works in classical times, dedicated to the nine Muses—is the setting for a dialogue between traditional forms of art and architecture and me.
As daughters of Mnemosyne, goddess of memory, the Muses preserved ancient knowledge and inspired new ideas, forms and worldviews. Just like the original, this MOUSEION presents a unique assemblage of art and science. And just as the Temple of the Muses in Alexandria, with its famous library, sought to understand the contemporary world, the collection of artworks in my virtual MOUSEION call into question specific aspects of our own recent past.
Nick Ervinck in dialogue with Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth, Francis Bacon, Hans Arp, Lyn Chadwick, Auguste Rodin, Antoine Bourdelle, Michelangelo Buonarroti.
Historical pieces from, among others, The Louvre - Paris, The Metropolitan Museum of Art - New York, The British Museum – London, Middelheim - Antwerp, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden - Washington D.C., Museo Nazionale Romano - Roma, Statens Museum for Kunst - Copenhagen, Das Naturhistorisches Museum – Vienna.
Complemented by African masks, rocks, shelves, bones, corals, fruit, toys and tree trunks.
- Dimensions room 1: 525m long x 45m wide = 23625m²
- Dimensions room 2: 50m diameter = 1962m²
- Surface together: ~25500m²