GLORIOUS FAILURE, 2016 (Artefact commission).

In response to a commission from STUK, Frederic Geurts together with seven students architectural engineering of Prof Mattias Schevenels (University of Leuven) developed the installation Glorious Failure for the inner courtyard of STUK. In the context of Artefact, Geurts aimed to offer a critical reflection on the relationship between art and science. In Glorious Failure both meet as equal yet fundamentally different partners with a common fascination for the powers of gravity. Glorious Failure proposes failure as a game and turning point: the moment of questioning. For Geurts, it is the continuation of a fundamental search into human vulnerability.

The work takes a key position in Up in the Air between the observation of air space and the elements within on the one hand, and a selection of perspectives on our current and possible future uses of airspace on the other. Since in the utilitarian perspective, much like in society at large, and science in particular, attention is mainly paid to stories of success. However, in these moments of failure one can take a step back and question again the desirability of the initial goals.

Frederic Geurts (B)
°1965, Wilrijk

Frederic Geurts lives and works in Antwerp. He has been building his oeuvre since 1988, the core of which lies in the works’ dialogue with its context. He is mostly known for his monumental yet fragile structures which play into the surrounding environments. Frederic Geurts studied product development in Genk. Between 2005 and 2013 he was a lecturer at the MADfaculty in Hasselt, where he co-developed the research field of art and public space, a cross-over between architecture and art.  He is represented by Sofie Van De Velde Gallery.