Vein Section (Neighbours Vol. 6)

Vein Section is a group show which tells the story of that which remains. In a world without humans, what survives is a different kind of life. An archaeological view of this post-industrial reality reveals a landscape of materials – bodies of work that bear witness to the rise and fall of mankind and its growing dependence on technology. In this context, materiality gains a life of its own.

Evolution is slow but steady, and we are witness to transformations between what is and what seems, between hard and soft, fluidity and rigidness, static and active. The objects betray their maker in the sense that they are ambiguous about their provenance; they seem to exist for themselves, born out of themselves. They find their own way in the exhibition space and, with the public’s mind as a go-between, tell their own story. To be present is to gather meaning; together with their occupation of space, these works carve out an existence.

A few years ago, artist Manor Grunewald started the first of what would become a series of exhibitions in his studio. Under the title Neighbours, he invited friends to show works in small-scale group shows. While this organic way of working – building on his personal network and that of his friends – created a situation in which nobody has full control, it also opened various opportunities. Following exhibitions from Ghent to Bologna which presented works by over twenty of his contemporaries, Grunewald was invited by Berthold Pott to curate a new Neighbours exhibition at his gallery space in Cologne.

For this sixth instalment of his Neighbours series, Manor Grunewald asked Thoms Caron to co-curate the exhibition. A former curator at S.M.AK., Ghent, Caron recently launched artlead.net, a platform dedicated to making art accessible to a wider audience by means of a curated online marketplace, a contextualizing journal, and a series of art in public space projects. Together, Manor Grunewald and Thoms Caron curated Vein Section (or a Cave Painting).