New solo exhibition
Layer upon layer of meaning
‘Wet Job’ refers to a series of paintings and sculptures of the same name in which Camille Henrot explores the limits of the post-partum body. It also refers to the conflicting pressures and expectations surrounding the body’s productivity. In the context of this exhibition, the title takes on additional meanings. ‘Wet Job’ is now also about such acts of care as washing or breastfeeding, and even about the fluidity of identity, about life and loss, and about the sometimes ‘messy’ or ‘mucky’ nature of dependency.
Shifting identities
Henrot has always been fascinated by the tension between attachment and separation. As people in relation to each other, but also in relation to our environment and to (technological) devices. This continuous tension runs like a thread through her work. Inspired by literature, social media, cartoons, poetry and everyday banality, Henrot shows the complexity of life in an increasingly connected and overstimulated world. With her sculptural practice, Henrot mainly seeks to give form to an ‘in-between state’ of the body, which is constantly in transition from one state to another, to shifting identities, inner conflicts and society’s unrelenting drive towards simultaneous expression and consumption.
About Camille Henrot
Henrot received the Silver Lion at the Venice Biennale in 2013 for her groundbreaking film Grosse Fatigue (2013), considered one of the most important works of that decade. In 2017 Henrot was invited for the Carte Blanche series at the Paris Palais de Tokyo, resulting in the major retrospective Days Are Dogs. In 2014 she received the Nam June Paik Award and in 2015 the Edvard Munch Award. She has had many solo exhibitions worldwide, most recently at the Kestner Gesellschaft in Hanover, the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne, the Art Sonje Center in Seoul and the Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery.
Acknowledgements
This exhibition was made possible with the generous support of Hauser & Wirth and kamel mennour. This project also received support within the framework of EXTRA2022, a support programme for French contemporary creation.
Visit the exhibition your way
Visitor’s guide and plan of the exhibition
The free visitor’s guide and plan of the exhibition will guide you through the exhibition. Read more about the layout of the exhibition, the artist and the works presented, spread across the Hortiflora, Het Huis and Braem Pavilion. This way you can experience the exhibition at your own pace.
- Download the plan of the exhibition here:
- Download the visitor guide here:
Prefer paper? The visitor’s guide is available in the museum shop, in Het Huis and in the Braem Pavilion. You will also find the plan of the exhibition at the three entrances and at two new booths, triangular steel information points in the art park.
Free poster with the exhibition
In the Braem Pavilion you will find a free poster of the exhibition. As long as stocks last.
Based on a conversation between author Quinn Latimer and artist Camille Henrot, this poster has been published specially for the exhibition Wet Job at the Middelheim Museum.
Quinn Latimer (b. 1978, Venice, California) is a writer and editor. Her most recent book is Like a Woman: Essays, Readings, Poems (Sternberg Press, 2017). She lives and works in Basle and Athens.
Photos: © Ans Brys & © Tom Cornille
