First retrospective of the artist Chantal Maes (Brussels, 1965), the exhibition « …puisque bafouillent aussi les astres » at BPS22 takes its title from a poem by Christian Dotremont (1922–1979), one of the founders of the CoBrA group. Resulting from in-depth work initiated more than three years ago with the artist by the curatorial duo Jean‑François Chevrier and Élia Pijollet, it brings together known series with previously unseen groups and recent works.
Silver‑gelatin photographs, videos and sound recordings, produced between 1989 and 2025, are, for the two curators, “as many elements arranged in the exhibition galleries according to a constructive logic.” A formal construction, of course, since it is art; but also a biographical one, since artistic activity is, for the artist, inseparable from her biographical construction (in the sense of a “construction of the self,” and not an invented fiction).
The two curators conceived the exhibition in an original way: as a kind of cinematic experience at the heart of Chantal Maes’s work, where visitors can themselves combine the different images, in the order they wish. They are invited to make their own “film” of the exhibition and thus produce their own “narrative.” The curators and the artist have nevertheless determined the four chapters that structure the exhibition.
Curators: Jean‑François Chevrier and Élia Pijolet
Chantal Maes : « …puisque bafouillent aussi les astres »
Through 3 May 2026
BPS22
Museum of Art of the Province of Hainaut
Campus Charleroi Métropole
22 Boulevard Solvay, 6000 Charleroi – Belgium
+32 71 27 29 71
www.bps22.be
