The four totems stand near the belfry, only a few steps away three graces are dancing, and in front of the museum of fine arts, the bam, stand the "nanas-fountain" and the "nana-house II".
With around 140 works by niki de saint phalle, the exhibition continues inside the museum in mons, belgium. "Everything is possible here" is the title of the exhibition, which the belgian city has taken literally. The huge exhibition is not only the first retrospective of niki de saint phalle’s work in belgium, it is also the first to be held in the country. With the exhibition about one of the most famous female artists of the 20th century, the. At the beginning of the 21st century, the walloon city also started its first biennale.
A title as european capital of culture obliges. "We couldn’t let the momentum of 2015 go to sleep," explains caroline kadziola of the fondation mons 2025. The number of museum visitors in mons and the surrounding area has increased in the past two years. In addition, a permanent network of artists has formed, says the cultural manager. In 2015, mons invested a remarkable 70 million euros in the title.
The 97.The city, which has a population of over 1,000, had already shone at the start of the cultural year with the exhibition "van gogh in the borinage – the birth of an artist. The 70 or so works were shown in the art museum bam, which was reopened in 2013. With niki de saint phalle, the city has once again landed a powerful name.
The 140 or so works provide a comprehensive insight into the work of the french-american artist, from her first figurative works to her slide paintings and her famous female figures, the "nanas. Her film "daddy" will also be shown, in which the artist, who died in 2002, comes to terms with her past. As a young girl she had been abused several times by her father.
With niki de saint phalle, mons has opened its nine-month biennial. The program includes street art festivals, performances, concerts and numerous work shows, such as the one on giorgio de chirico, which opens on 16 february. February begins at the bam.
Mons is rich in unesco world heritage sites, including the archives and documentation center mundaneum. It is one of the institutions participating in the biennial program. The museum, the only one of its kind, houses the remains of the world’s knowledge that paul otlet and henri la fontaine wanted to capture in 1895 when they founded the institut international de bibliographie: some 12 million index cards with bibliographical information in thousands of small wooden boxes.
Today conferences and exhibitions take place in the mundaneum. For the biennial, the show "europe begins here", which will last until the end of march, has been chosen! The architects of peace" come up with a plan. An allusion to the fact that otlet and la fontaine – who was awarded the nobel peace prize in 1913 – were convinced that they could secure peace with an archive of world knowledge.