(post-)System. Painting and photography on the boundary of control
Painting and photography on the boundary of control
20.11.2025 – 21.12.2025
Curatorial text
The image presented by the artwork is a construction.
The construction upon which the artwork depends is its system.
The Flemish-Ukrainian group exhibition (post-)System takes a look at the different appearances of control in art, ranging from rigid to unrestrained. In their practice, artists follow a system that sets the conditions for the creation of an artwork. Both the created conditions and the moment of creation are interdependent. Each coming into being of an artwork has to do with the alternation between control and surrender, organization and disharmony, and obedience and transgression. (post-)System is interested in the practical and conceptual methodologies that artists subject themselves to, as well as in the way systems can be recognized or remain concealed in their work.
The concept of (post-)System is based principally on a recovered manifesto written by curator Jan Van Woensel twenty-five years ago; a pivotal work that marked his discontinuation in pursuing a career as an artist. Inspirited by the proposition theory of Ludwig Wittgenstein and the simulacrum concept of Jean Baudrillard, the text explains that the origin of the image that the artwork presents is always based on a system. Van Woensel’s viewpoints further lead to the restrained consideration that all art is always subordinate to its system. The author intends to guide the reader towards the austere essence of art and, to some degree, he arrives at a mental impasse; a point zero, a deadlock. In his writing, he weighs the possibilities of what art is factually and what can be said about it meaningfully. What remains after we remove the artwork’s impossible state of affairs? If nothing true or false can be said about art, then art itself should be considered a deception; a constructed picture that tricks us into the creation of derivational fictions (hence: post-system).
MANIFESTO
The manifesto of 25 March 2000 was the curator’s attempt to recover the nonsensical proposition-status of the artwork (vis-à-vis its complicity in metaphysical and aesthetic falsehoods) by means of restoring its logical identity. He writes: “The origin of the image of art is the origin of its system. All systems are limited. Therefore, all art is limited”. The curatorial project (post-)System thus presents a critical and reflective approach to art, as well as to the theoretical analysis of the manifesto. If the dogmatic statement that all art is based on a logical system is credible, then how do we view artworks that in any event attempt to communicate something that is exterior to its system? Is the obscured system of the artwork, the actual artwork?
The exhibition includes videos with high sensory intensity
Artists: Leentje Brands (BE), Dirk De Wachter (BE), Halyna Dubyk (UA), Kris Gevers (BE), Katya Kopeikina (UA), Adéla Mitová (CZ), Kristina Mos (UA), Kateryna Myrhorod (UA), Marharyta Polovinko (1994-2025) (UA), Steve Schepens (1979-2022) (BE), Hans Segers (BE), Alexis Stoelen (BE), Darya Sviatun (UA).
Curator: Jan Van Woensel
Project managers:Illia Turyhin, Olena Kryvoruchko
Graphic design: Ihor Tymoshchuk
Translation: Yuliia Kulish, Burshtyna Tereshchenko
Jan Van Woensel is an independent curator and art critic who works between Belgium, the Czech Republic, and Ukraine. Since 2025, he is based in Lviv, Ukraine. He is the founder and director of зараз Ukraine: platform for emerging artists. Van Woensel is guest curator at B7 contemporary artspace in Mechelen, Belgium; curator of international exhibitions and symposiums at University of West Bohemia, Pilsen, CZ; and international guest professor at Kharkiv State Academy of Design and Art, KSADA, Kharkiv, UA.
The exhibition (post-)System will open
on November 20 at 6 PM and last until December 21, 2025, at the Mala Gallery (Lavrska St., 10)
Working hours: Wednesday to Sunday, from 12:00 to 19:00
Free admission
(post-)System in Ukraine is supported by Flanders State of the Art, the Flemish Minister of Culture, the Embassy of Belgium in Kyiv, and the Representation of Flanders in Poland and the Baltic States.
❗ We care about everyone’s safety, so in case of an air raid alert, the exhibition will be closed. At this time, you can go to the nearest shelter. The exhibition will start working after the end of an air raid alert.