A Sore Calamity and Soliloquy in Edmond’s Office in-situ installation, Hôtel van Eetvelde, Brussels
A SORE CALAMITY (2024)
In collaboration with Victoria Gonzalez-Figueras
“The kodak has been a sore calamity to us. The most powerful enemy that has confronted us, indeed.” — King Leopold’s Soliloquy, Mark Twain, 1905
In the pamphlet King Leopold’s Soliloquy (1905), Mark Twain assumes the persona of King Leopold II bemoaning the arrival of the camera, the “incorruptible kodak,” the only witness he “couldn’t bribe.” To the King’s horror, this new technology was able to bear witness to the atrocities he was committing in Congo, exposing the lies that he’d been able to maintain via the press. To deal with the shocking images of the violent management of the Congo Free State, the teams working for Leopold II installed one of the first large-scale propaganda operations in the history of tyrannies. Photography became a veritable weapon against the Congo Reform Association. A secret service was set up to censor photographers who denounced crimes, torture and rape perpetrated by Belgians in Congo, and to bribe others to produce “good photographs.”
On the occasion of 130 years of Art Nouveau, the city of Brussels commissioned Max Pinckers & Victoria Gonzalez-Figueras to produce an in-situ installation at Hôtel van Eetvelde. With its lavish interiors full of imported materials and references to Congo, this house is a prime example of the link between colonialism and Art Nouveau. It was designed by Victor Horta for Edmond van Eetvelde, the “minister of Congo”, as his personal residence, and where he orchestrated plans and lobbied for the colonization and administration of the Congo Free State.
Influenced by Twain and departing from Art Nouveau’s entanglement with colonialism, Pinckers & Gonzalez-Figueras made photographs with a Kodak Brownie camera from the early 1900s, not of colonial violence in Congo but of locations in the city of Brussels that served as places of power during Leopold II’s ruling of Congo Free State that still shape the city’s historical landscape today. The Norwegian Chalet behind the Royal Palace from where Leopold II administrated his colony; the halls of the Lever House that served as a colonial propaganda museum; and details inside Hôtel van Eetvelde. Their images also include objects tied to this legacy, the original mold of Leopold II’s equestrian statue, objects remaining from the 1987 International Exposition, and a prestigious Art Nouveau piece gifted to Eetvelde by Belgian industrialists.
Soliloquy in Edmond’s Office (sound installation)
Wiet Lengeler with Max Pinckers & Victoria Gonzalez-Figueras
This narration in the form of an audio loop is an excerpt of Mark Twain’s King Leopold’s Soliloquy that is digitally played back and re-recorded in Edmond van Eetvelde’s office. Each iteration incorporates the distinctive acoustics of the room. Mirroring the canonical sound art piece I Am Sitting In A Room (1969) by Alvin Lucier, the space gradually shapes the sound of the voice, distorting the original text, rendering it unintelligible and reshaping the characteristics of the soliloquy. Ultimately, the room's acoustics take over the narrator's speech, reflecting the specific sonic qualities of the office, located on the second floor of the building.
In the pamphlet King Leopold’s Soliloquy (1905), Mark Twain assumes the persona of King Leopold II bemoaning the arrival of the camera, the “incorruptible kodak,” the only witness he “couldn’t bribe.” To the King’s horror, this new technology was able to bear witness to the atrocities he was committing in Congo, exposing the lies that he’d been able to maintain via the press. To deal with the shocking images of the violent management of the Congo Free State, the teams working for Leopold II installed one of the first large-scale propaganda operations in the history of tyrannies. Photography became a veritable weapon against the Congo Reform Association. A secret service was set up to censor photographers who denounced crimes, torture and rape perpetrated by Belgians in Congo, and to bribe others to produce “good photographs.”
On the occasion of 130 years of Art Nouveau, the city of Brussels commissioned Max Pinckers & Victoria Gonzalez-Figueras to produce an in-situ installation at Hôtel van Eetvelde. With its lavish interiors full of imported materials and references to Congo, this house is a prime example of the link between colonialism and Art Nouveau. It was designed by Victor Horta for Edmond van Eetvelde, the “minister of Congo”, as his personal residence, and where he orchestrated plans and lobbied for the colonization and administration of the Congo Free State.
Influenced by Twain and departing from Art Nouveau’s entanglement with colonialism, Pinckers & Gonzalez-Figueras made photographs with a Kodak Brownie camera from the early 1900s, not of colonial violence in Congo but of locations in the city of Brussels that served as places of power during Leopold II’s ruling of Congo Free State that still shape the city’s historical landscape today. The Norwegian Chalet behind the Royal Palace from where Leopold II administrated his colony; the halls of the Lever House that served as a colonial propaganda museum; and details inside Hôtel van Eetvelde. Their images also include objects tied to this legacy, the original mold of Leopold II’s equestrian statue, objects remaining from the 1987 International Exposition, and a prestigious Art Nouveau piece gifted to Eetvelde by Belgian industrialists.
Soliloquy in Edmond’s Office (sound installation)
Wiet Lengeler with Max Pinckers & Victoria Gonzalez-Figueras
This narration in the form of an audio loop is an excerpt of Mark Twain’s King Leopold’s Soliloquy that is digitally played back and re-recorded in Edmond van Eetvelde’s office. Each iteration incorporates the distinctive acoustics of the room. Mirroring the canonical sound art piece I Am Sitting In A Room (1969) by Alvin Lucier, the space gradually shapes the sound of the voice, distorting the original text, rendering it unintelligible and reshaping the characteristics of the soliloquy. Ultimately, the room's acoustics take over the narrator's speech, reflecting the specific sonic qualities of the office, located on the second floor of the building.
Comissioned by Paul Dujardin for urban.brussels in collaboration with LABAN for the 130th anniversary of Art Nouveau in Brussels
Thank you Guy Conde-Reis, Hôtel van Eetvelde, Siska Genbrugge and Joy Voncken at the AfricaMuseum, and Atelier de moulages des Musées royaux d’Art et Histoire
Technical advisers: Frank Pinckers and Gauthier Oushoorn
A Sore Calamity exhibition text (English, Dutch, French)
Thank you Guy Conde-Reis, Hôtel van Eetvelde, Siska Genbrugge and Joy Voncken at the AfricaMuseum, and Atelier de moulages des Musées royaux d’Art et Histoire
Technical advisers: Frank Pinckers and Gauthier Oushoorn
A Sore Calamity exhibition text (English, Dutch, French)