About this exhibition
For La Biennale di Venezia, Jef Geys (b. 1934 Leopoldsburg, BE) presents an entirely new project entitled Quadra Medicinale. The project is an interdisciplinary research documented with plans, inventories, descriptions, photos and drawings.
As a point of departure, Jef Geys adopts the term terroir, a term that relates more to the notion of biotope than with the idea of territory. With regards to motifs and structures, Geys develops elements that have featured in his work since the last four decades and which are documented in the accompanying newspaper
Quadra Medicinale begins with a basic research the artist asked four acquaintances who live or work in a large city Villeurbanne, New York, Moscow and Brussels to carry out. Each of them delineated one square kilometre and, within that surface, searched for twelve wild plants that grow in the streets, in order to explore the basic components of their immediate surroundings.
Belgian Pavilion
Commissioned by: the Flemish Ministry of Culture
Curator: Dirk Snauwaert
Assistant Curator: Angelique Campens
Production coordination by Wiels Contemporary Art Centre Brussels
Thursday June 4 at 11 am
Jef Geys invites Ethnobotanist Ina Vandebroek for a lecture on
Medicinal plant use as a cultural tradition in rural, urban and metropolitan habitats
Within the framework of his exhibition, Ina Vandebroek will give a lecture about her research on the intersection of ethnobotany, biotope and territory, biocultural diversity, and community health. Her current research takes place in New York City and focuses on the dynamics of medicinal plant knowledge and use by immigrants from the Dominican Republic. She is also involved in cultural competency training to help establish a better dialogue and trusted relationship between physicians and their minority patients. Her other research area is Bolivia, where she has been working in the Andes and Amazon since 1999, in close collaboration with local universities and traditional healers on ethnobotany research, teaching and community outreach.
Università Iuav di Venezia - Facoltà di Design e Art
Fondamenta delle Terese - Dorsoduro 2206 - Aula G
As a point of departure, Jef Geys adopts the term terroir, a term that relates more to the notion of biotope than with the idea of territory. With regards to motifs and structures, Geys develops elements that have featured in his work since the last four decades and which are documented in the accompanying newspaper
Quadra Medicinale begins with a basic research the artist asked four acquaintances who live or work in a large city Villeurbanne, New York, Moscow and Brussels to carry out. Each of them delineated one square kilometre and, within that surface, searched for twelve wild plants that grow in the streets, in order to explore the basic components of their immediate surroundings.
Belgian Pavilion
Commissioned by: the Flemish Ministry of Culture
Curator: Dirk Snauwaert
Assistant Curator: Angelique Campens
Production coordination by Wiels Contemporary Art Centre Brussels
Thursday June 4 at 11 am
Jef Geys invites Ethnobotanist Ina Vandebroek for a lecture on
Medicinal plant use as a cultural tradition in rural, urban and metropolitan habitats
Within the framework of his exhibition, Ina Vandebroek will give a lecture about her research on the intersection of ethnobotany, biotope and territory, biocultural diversity, and community health. Her current research takes place in New York City and focuses on the dynamics of medicinal plant knowledge and use by immigrants from the Dominican Republic. She is also involved in cultural competency training to help establish a better dialogue and trusted relationship between physicians and their minority patients. Her other research area is Bolivia, where she has been working in the Andes and Amazon since 1999, in close collaboration with local universities and traditional healers on ethnobotany research, teaching and community outreach.
Università Iuav di Venezia - Facoltà di Design e Art
Fondamenta delle Terese - Dorsoduro 2206 - Aula G