PRESENTATION: Magical Realism-Imagining Natural Dis/order

Magic realism, chiefly Latin-American narrative strategy that is characterized by the matter-of-fact inclusion of fantastic or mythical elements into seemingly realistic fiction. Although this strategy is known in the literature of many cultures in many ages, the term magic realism is a relatively recent designation, first applied in the 1940s by Cuban novelist Alejo Carpentier, who recognized this characteristic in much Latin-American literature.

By Dimitris Lempesis
Photo: WIELS Archive

How do we imagine living environments in a world facing planetary shifts and ecological challenges? The exhibition “Magical Realism: Imagining Natural Dis/order” brings together over thirty artists at WIELS and argos, offering new ideas and perspectives on our relationship with the planet. The exhibition is an invitation to move away from systems driven by endless growth and resource extraction, encouraging a deeper connection with the many entanglements that shape our biosphere. The title of the exhibition is borrowed from the artistic and literary genre known as magical realism, which is characterised by its infusion of worlds of magic, dreams and myth into mundane narratives—creating stories that redefine the boundaries of reality. The exhibition looks at how the porosity between “magic” and “reality” may open up spaces for other horizons to emerge in response to proliferating monocultures, precarious lives, and climate transformation. When the world of science and hard facts has been torn apart from the world of magic and intuition, how to reconcile this fracture? What traces does it leave and how do we repair it? The exhibition navigates these questions through works that shape worlds via painting, moving image, sound and installation. They engage with different spaces, from the cosmos and its galaxies to the scientist’s lab; matters such as bodies of water, bacterial skins or 3D prints; and geologic processes surfacing through the underground rumbling of the earth or the noise of a sinking city. The exhibition follows “The Absent Museum” (2017) and” Risquons-to”ut (2020) as the third of WIELS’ large-scale recurring exhibitions, focusing on specific patterns within contemporary artistic practice that underscore the necessity for transformation. Through an exhibition—including a section organised at argos—a publication and a public programme with workshops, talks, screenings, walks and performances, “Magical Realism” reflects an ecology that addresses both the aesthetic implications of our relationship with natural worlds at a tipping point, as well as the social, economic and scientific implications of exploring and shifting our conceptions of the planet.

WIELS presents works by: Bianca Baldi, Minia Biabiany, Gaëlle Choisne, Ade Darmawan, Edith Dekyndt, Suzanne Husky, Suzanne Jackson, Ann Veronica Janssens, Barbara & Michael Leisgen, Anne Marie Maes, Jumana Manna, Marisa Merz, Jota Mombaça, Nour Mobarak, mountaincutters, Otobong Nkanga, Kicsy Abreu Stable, Precious Okoyomon, Elizabeth A. Povinelli, Annie Ratti, Daniel Steegmann Mangrané, Maarten Vanden Eynde & Musasa, Cecilia Vicuña, and Adrián Villar Rojas.

argos presents works by: Saodat Ismailova, Joan Jonas, Pauline Julier

Photo: Otobong Nkanga, Alignment, 2022, Kröller-Müller Museum, 2022 © Photograph by Marjon Gemmeke

Info: Curators: Sofia Dati, Helena Kritis, Dirk Snauwaert, WIELS Contemporary Art Centre, Brussels, Avenue Van Volxemlaan 354, Brussels, Belgium, Duration: 29/2-28/9/2025, Days & Hours: Tue-Sun 11:00-18:00, www.wiels.org/ & argos centre for audiovisual arts, werfstraat 13 rue du chantier, Brussels, Belgium, Duration: 29/2-28/9/2025, Days & Hours: Tue-Sun 11:00-18:00, www.argosarts.org/