Sam Lewitt presents first Belgian solo exhibition at Z33
The American artist Sam Lewitt investigates the circulation of matter and capital in the global economy. His exhibition at Z33 departs from the recent closure and demolition of Ford Genk, formerly a major employer in the region.
As Ford Genk was undergoing demolition, the new wing of Z33 was under construction in the nearby city of Hasselt. Lewitt retools this economic transition in his exhibition. He uses elements of the demolished factory, as well as soil from the Ford site, to set up a production line for compressed earth blocks, a low-cost building material. Inside the galleries, the stages of the production process – compressing, curing, and stacking – are separated by doors and tarps from the former factory. This dispersed presentation raises the question of where we locate the ‘work’, as an activity and as a product.
In the galleries of Z33, two earth ramming machines compress soil from the Ford site into interlocking earth blocks. These manual devices were originally designed for self-help housing in so-called developing countries and also embraced by practitioners of small-scale ecological self-sufficiency. They enable the direct use of local soil for shelter and road construction. The earth ramming machines connect Z33 to various other production sites and raise the question of how artistic production is tied to a specific place: the machines are meant to be used with local soil, but can be used anywhere in the world. In this respect, Lewitt’s work differs from site-specific art that is made for one place. The Ford site in Genk—which is being redeveloped as a logistics hub—is already connected to numerous other places of economic activity. Lewitt uses this site as raw material to be transformed throughout the exhibition.
BIO
Sam Lewitt was born in Los Angeles in 1981. He lives and works in New York, where he completed the Whitney Independent Study Program in 2005 after receiving his BFA from the School of Visual Arts in 2004. Selected institutional solo exhibitions include: Swiss Institute, New York (2016), Kunsthalle Basel (2016), and The Wattis Institute for Contemporary Art, San Francisco (2015). Lewitt’s work has been presented at numerous institutions and biennials, including the Venice Biennale (2017) and the Whitney Biennial (2012). In 2018, he was the recipient of the BMW Open Work commission at the Frieze Art Fair in London. Monographs on his work include More Heat Than Light (2016) and Fluid Employment (2013).
Tim Roerig is a curator at Z33. He studied Philosophy and Cultural Analysis at the University of Amsterdam and worked previously as a curatorial assistant to the late curator Okwui Enwezor. Selected projects include the exhibitions and catalogues: Postwar: Art Between the Pacific and the Atlantic, 1945-1965, Haus der Kunst, Munich (2016) and All the World’s Futures, 56th International Art Exhibition, La Biennale di Venezia, Venice (2015).
Practical information
Curator: Tim Roerig
The exhibition is open for public from 04.10.20-03.01.21
Partners
Special Thanks to: Miguel Abreu Gallery, New York; Galerie Buchholz, Berlijn/Keulen/New York; De Vlaamse Waterweg nv; MG Real Estate / Intervest / Genk Green Logistics