Ryan Gander
To stand amongst the elements and to interpret what one knows

To stand amongst the elements and to interpret what one knows is the first overview exhibition in Belgium of the work of British artist Ryan Gander.

In this exhibition, the various aspects of his multifaceted oeuvre can be discovered. His work can take the form of an action, a sculpture, an installation, but also a thought, a promise or an encounter. Ryan Gander likes to play with absurd logic and surprising insights about himself and his surrounding environment. Nothing is what you think you know, and all his works resemble puzzle pieces of which it may be feared that they will never fit perfectly together.

His imagination and mental leaps take many directions and are difficult to grasp in a specific and recognisable style or shape. The common thread in the work of Ryan Gander is the sincere generosity toward the viewer: Gander provokes us, again and again, to let go of our ingrained expectations and to let our imagination work to further develop the storylines he puts forward. Hence an exhibition by Ryan Gander requires great attention to detail. Not everyone can always fathom everything, but everyone will recognise different elements and give them meaning.

Many works of Ryan Gander reinterpret existing work made by himself and others or continue the fictional storylines he already started in previous exhibitions. The deeper and more attentive you dig into the work of the artist, the more relationships and connections you uncover.

An exhibition of Ryan Gander is, in other words, a discovery involving all our senses. You may be confronted with time, self-reflection, childhood memories or simply with an unexpected plot.