FINIS TERRAE - 17/11/2022 – 26/02/2023
The end. A beginning.

Five years after the successful exhibition ECCE HOMO (2017-2018), Yasmine Geukens & Marie-Paule De Vil, in collaboration with Lien Craps and Eric Rinckhout, are once again organizing a group exhibition uniting contemporary Belgian artists around one contemporary theme: FINIS TERRAE.

This exhibition runs from 17 November 2022 to 26 February 2023, and takes place at various (historical) locations throughout the city of Antwerp.

FINIS TERRAE aims to take a look at our world today. More than ever, the boundaries of our contemporary society are laid bare. In addition, a crisis situation sets minds in motion. The exhibition therefore also aims to highlight hope, the resilience of mankind, and the power of art.
No distinction is made between young and old, male and female, white and colored, nor between any artistic discipline. The curators deliberately opt for living, Belgian artists (and artists residing in Belgium).

Like ECCHE HOMO, this exhibition is linked to the organization HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH, and more specifically to the division of environment and the humanitarian consequences that climate change can bring about.

Artists in the Snijders&Rockox House:

Berlinde De Bruyckere, Thierry De Cordier, Sanam Khatibi, Maarten Vanden Eynde, Cindy Wright, Ben Sledsens , Jan Van Imschoot, Charles Degeyter, Babs Decruyenaere, Lara Gasparotto, Peter De Meyer.

BAROQUE INFLUENCERS: JESUITS, RUBENS AND THE ART OF PERSUASION IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY

21 April 08:00 – 16 July 17:00

To win over their public, the Jesuits developed a unique visual culture that was influential as far away as China. ‘Baroque Influencers’ shows how the leading figures in Antwerp in the long seventeenth-century thought, dreamed, worked and prayed. The exhibition gathers devotional prints, etchings and books from the collections of several heritage institutions, including the Ruusbroec Society. A series of unique ‘affixiones’ (painted canvases from the patrimony of St Charles Borromeo Church) will also be on display.

The University of Antwerp is working hard on the scientific preparation of the festival. During the festival, an online platform will be launched that will unlock the Ruusbroec Society’s digitized print collection. By mid 2023, an estimated 10,000 devotional prints will be available for digital consultation.

At the request of the Jesuits, Peter Paul Rubens created thirty-nine ceiling paintings in St Charles Borromeo Church. These paintings were lost during the fire of 1718. During Baroque Influencers, we will try to bring that lost art treasure back to life at Museum Snijders&Rockoxhuis. We will do so by using more than forty domestic and foreign masterpieces by Peter Paul Rubens, Jacob de Wit and Daniel Seghers. It will be the ideal place to experience baroque art in situ.

On the occasion of Baroque Influencers, there will also be a reconstruction of the rich interior of the Sodality in the Nottebohm Hall of the Hendrik Conscience Heritage Library. Until 1773, the site of the current Nottebohm Hall was home to a beautifully decorated baroque chapel of the Sodality that featured many dozens of paintings and a marble wall covering.

The exhibition will be held in three locations: Museum Snijders&Rockoxhuis, the galleries of St Charles Borromeo Church, and the Nottebohm Hall of the Heritage Library Hendrik Conscience*.

*The exhibition in the Heritage Library Hendrik Conscience will continue until the end of August . The other two locations will close on July 16th 2023.