DOKA

DOKA is the title of M’s new exhibition, assembled by guest curator Geert Goiris. It marks the return of the Belgian photographer to the museum after his solo exhibition in 2013. The natural state of the art collection is darkness. Most artworks rarely see the light of day. But just like a darkroom (‘doka’ in Dutch), Goiris conceives of this exhibition as a space in which images light up from the dark.

‘Attention is the beginning of devotion.’ The late poet Mary Oliver warned about the dangers of looking without observing. Her voice has never been more urgent in this age of distraction.

The familiar spaces that we regularly use are often strongly defined by ingrained habits and routines. Our perception in such places is truncated into assumptions rather than perceptions. The artworks in ‘DOKA’ disrupt the mundane – sometimes subtly, sometimes explicitly – and invite us to take a new look at the familiar. The works range between openness and reticence, abstraction and figuration, and uninhibited curiosity and control. A wave seems to flow through the exhibition, from the unreachable (the landscape) to the familiar (the interior), and back again.

Artists : Leyla Aydoslu, Younes Baba-Ali, Dirk Braeckman, Raphaël Buedts, Paul Casaer, Honoré d’O, Lili Dujourie, Jef Geys, Gerard Herman, René Heyvaert, Ann Veronica Janssens, Jan Kempenaers, Valérie Mannaerts, Hana Miletić, Peter Morrens, Hilde Overbergh, Ria Pacquée, Benoît Platéus, Kato Six, Gintauté Skvernyté, Walter Swennen, Joëlle Tuerlinckx, Michael Van den Abeele, Philippe Van Snick, Richard Venlet, Jan Vercruysse, Marthe Wéry

Opening Friday 15.12.23
Open everyday, 11am > 6pm
Closed on Wednesdays
Thursdays, 11am > 10pm
until Sunday 05.01.25

Location
M Leuven
Leopold Vanderkelenstraat 28
3000, Leuven (BE)

Read more about Younes Baba-Ali.