Nicolás Lamas

Two pieces of reflective material are processed in the sculpture Unstable Territories of Nicolás Lamas. He cut out the contours of the European map and assembled the parts so as to form a standing sculpture. Cartographers often degrade precisely these waters to a kind of ´emptiness´ or ´space to be filled´: they take second place to the land areas described in detail. They divide up terrain, mark borders and thus frequently also ´property´. By contrast, the seas or oceans - which nevertheless cover 71% of the Earth´s surface - have little geopolitical importance. Lamas does the opposite here. This time, the cut out or ´negative´ space is the land, not the seas or oceans.

In the perspective that we develop as human beings, we rarely comprehend the full picture. Either we still lack certain knowledge, or we classify the knowledge that we already have - just like the ´land´ map - extremely subjectively. Think for example of Africa, a continent that in reality is many times larger than the world maps would lead one to believe. Yet Lamas believes that we can ourselves cast doubt on these relations. At the same time, Lamas reminds the viewer of his or her physical relationship to our environment by working with reflective material.

After the exhibition, the work of art was moved to the Jacky Maes residential care centre.