Looking freely

Museum magazine ZAAL Z spoke with visual artist Sharon Van Overmeiren (°1985). She selects prints from the collection of the Museum Plantin-Moretus for the exhibition A Topological Boulevard. An example of how artist-curators introduce alternative ways of looking at the KMSKA.

By Koen Bulckens

For this project, you worked with the rich collection of prints and drawings from the Museum Plantin-Moretus. How do you use historical art in your artistic practice?

Sharon Van Overmeiren: “I create ceramic objects that emerge from combining different forms: ranging from ancient artefacts and major artworks to elements from pop culture and ‘floating cultural debris’. The result is both strange and familiar, because you recognize the individual elements from somewhere, while the whole is entirely new. That’s why I often refer to my ceramics as ‘fictional sculptures’.”

“Equalizing and bringing together diverse source material lies at the core of my work. In everyday life, we divide everything into categories and boxes: this object belongs here, another belongs there. For me, those categories are deceptive. Everything in the cosmos is made up of the same elements, the same matter. I focus on similarities, not on the differences between things. In doing so, I reveal the relationships between objects.”

Through which channels do you encounter your sources of inspiration?

“They reach me through different paths. Sometimes through museum visits or travel, but even more often through books or the internet. It doesn’t really matter to me whether I encounter a particular form through a reproduction or not. Like a sponge, I constantly absorb new forms, even in everyday life. Take a lobster and a croissant, for example. They both share the same structure, which works like a kind of scale pattern. Once you notice such a similarity, you’re off and you start seeing more examples. It’s the same when I create work. I string forms together: one leads me to another, and then to the next.”

What will visitors see in the print room of the KMSKA?

“In total, I selected about sixty works from the collection of the Museum Plantin-Moretus: drawings, prints and books. I arranged them into eleven series, starting from formal similarities. Sometimes these are immediately obvious, sometimes you have to look a bit longer. One of my own works is also added to the presentation, to create a link with my artistic logic.”

“In the presentation, the artworks are not identified with traditional labels. Only the name I invented for each series will be visible. In this way, visitors are encouraged to explore the works differently. I hope people will take up this invitation, but don’t worry: we also provide a hand-out with standard object information – artist, date, title – for those who have an insatiable hunger for it.”

Can you give a specific example of these formal similarities?

“The series Double Dates consists of pairs, one of which clearly illustrates the method. It’s a colorful drawing of a dancing couple and a design sketch for a piece of jewelry with pearls. They are two images separated by centuries, but despite their distinct histories they can also enrich one another. They are both clusters: one is a cluster of pearls, the other a cluster of people. My mind spontaneously makes even more associations. The pearls suddenly start to resemble balloons because of the festive atmosphere of the dancers.”

The collection of the Museum Plantin-Moretus is enormous. How did you approach your selection of sixty works?

“I especially wanted to avoid getting stuck with a series of canonical images, masterpieces or works by well-known artists. I wanted to overturn all existing hierarchies that exclude certain works. That’s why I decided to first look at everything. I tried to work like a child or a computer, without prejudice or preconceptions.”

“The online collection catalogue of the Museum Plantin-Moretus contains about 90,000 records. I started with one and then clicked ‘next’. And then again. For hours and hours I looked at images, always stripped of all background information. After three thousand objects, I had a sense of the diversity of the collection. That’s when the first associations also began to emerge—forms that fit together.”

What do you hope to achieve with this project?

“I don’t want to take up space, but to make space. Not to say something, but to make sure something can be said. Looking at forms with an open mind is liberating. My intention—both with my own work and with this exhibition—is that people adopt that sense of freedom. Both in the way they look at art and at the rest of the world.”

This article previously appeared in ZAAL Z. Four times a year, ZAAL Z takes you into the world of the KMSKA and its collection, with inspiring interviews, engaging in-depth articles and interesting news. Subscribe now.