Contre nature

A look back over 40 years of artistic practice by Belgian artist Michel François, from his earliest works to a collection of new and previously unpublished creations.
Using sculpture, photography, video, painting and installation, Michel François creates a network of changing connections between his works. His exhibition at Bozar is a unique concept in which the ‘total work of art’ is central, and the exhibition room becomes an extension of his studio. François challenges and questions reality, and breathes new life into his relationship with art again and again. He transforms seemingly simple objects and materials into vectors of meaning. How can a gesture change the status of an object? What influence does the artist’s hand have? And what role does chance play?
The catalogue adopts the same structure as the exhibition: the six themes around which the rooms are grouped (‘Jardin contre nature’, ‘Panoptique’, etc.) are matched by six chapters, covering the different aspects of Michel François’s work.