Mikes Poppe (1983, BE)

EN DE BOER, HIJ PLOEGDE VOORT, 2022 (performance)

This countryside, with its fields where people plough, dig, plant and harvest, is the inspiration for a durational performance by Poppe, which will last the entire length of the festival. Every day, Poppe will drag a statue on a fixed course across a field. 

Day in day out, he will inexorably carve the shape of the infinity symbol into the ground. The sculpture Poppe will drag along is a replica of Michelangelo’s ‘Dying Slave’. This is a reference to the baggage of Western art history, but also to the Beeldenstorm, the iconoclasm that arose in the Westhoek and surrounding region in the 16th century.

STUDIES OF SLAVES

In preparation for his performance the artist made models, photographs and drawings. He interprets infinity, standstill and movement, traditions, peasant life, diligent labour, the rural landscape and Michelangelo’s ‘Dying or Awakening Slave’. Are these still studies of (will)power? Does he investigate the body of the scene or rather the scenicness of the body?