In solo exhibition SOON, Emma van der Put brings together existing and new work. The various films, prints and illuminated advertisements in the exhibition are part of a long-term project that started with the video ‘WTC’ (2016) in which Emma van der Put for six months followed the Noordwijk, the business district of Brussels. Her film ‘Mall of Europe’ (2018) is a reflection on the world exhibition area of the city. By means of digital enlargement, Van der Put traces the traces of historical and contemporary ideas about urban development, (technological) progress and globalization in her montages.
A city for the future
In the coming years, both areas will be renovated and modernized. The Brussels of the future is explicitly depicted in the digital sketches that are presented in the public space. What do these images tell us about our present-day wishes for the future and our dealings with the past?
In the context of the global pandemic, the question of what the future should look like has been refocused in the past year. This created the starting point for Van der Put’s new film and photographic works. Wandering through the city in lockdown, she noticed how strongly public space is dominated by compelling commandments, fulfilled wishes and a ruthless urge for endless growth.
The works in exhibition SOON reflect on how the desired future of the city is visualized and at the same time resonate with the process of transformation in which the building and the surroundings of TAC will also be at the center in the coming period.
