TRANCHES DE VIE by Sofie Lachaert + Luc D'Hanis.

Sofie Lachaert and Luc d’Hanis met at the Royal Academy of Antwerp, twenty years ago. Sofie thought: 'That's the one, him I'm going to pick' and the rest is history. They've been working together for twenty years. They make cupboards, furniture, chairs, vases, jewelry, dinner services, but most of all they make things of which you can't really say outright what they are for. Their practice is one of a kind. They are autonomous, that is to say: they've acquired the freedom to do exactly what they want to do.

For artist duo, Sofie Lachaert and Luc d'Hanis, life and work are inextricably intertwined. They have been collaborating now for over 20 years on an intriguing oeuvre involving objects, furniture and situation-oriented installations whereby the boundaries between applied art, craft and design are both questioned and crossed. Each project is a joint project, each work the result of the symbiosis between these two designers.

By Koen Kleijn
When you face the mirror in the morning
And there appears to be a head on your shoulders
Which is not your own
You must immediately
Report this
To the Public Services
Of your local council
They will do the necessary.
(…)

Gust Gils

With subtle interventions, mundane objects are enhanced with a new experience and a layer of meanings. Often conceptual, often with reference to fine art, each work can be interpreted at various depths, and can be viewed and scrutinised with various gazes. Meanings and functions are displaced, the senses are stimulated, unexpected beauty is exposed. With their work, slld bring captivating moments of wonder, reflection and poetic experience into everyday life.

With this exhibition, the artist duo is bringing the environment into the museum, a street, a terrace of workers' houses referring to the Hornu Mine complex, inside the Magasin aux Foins exhibition hall. The environment is, as it were, the true subject of the exhibition, the scenography and a work in itself a gesamtkunstwerk that unites both existing and new work.

The visitor wanders around the street at dusk, the time of the day when silence falls. Here and there light shines in the terrace. Curiosity and imagination are roused. The visitor looks through the window, notices unexpected images. Each viewing room displays an object or a series of objects with the required intimacy and its own, particular environment. These are subtle presentations whereby each work is placed in a specific context, and whereby the visitor is automatically compelled to view things more attentively. The other, more profound layers of meaning of the work are then revealed.

Venue.- Le Grand-Hornu. Rue Sainte-Louise 82. BE-7301 Hornu. Hainaut. Belgium.
Dates.- 27.04 > 17.08.2014

Le Grand-Hornu is an industrial mining complex in the Borinage region, south-west of Mons in the province of Hainaut. The site is a prime example of industrial revolution heritage, and an early example of strictly functional urban development of the beginning of the 19th century. The buildings are presently used as exhibition spaces, by three institutes: MAC’s (the Museum of Contemporary Art of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation), the Foundation Grand-Hornu and Grand-Hornu Images. The latter focuses on design and applied arts.