Cristina Iglesias / Philippe van Snick / Paul & Hilde Robbrecht "Wall for a painting / floor for a sculpture II"

‘Up till now De Appel's space has been the domain of visual artists who have made installations involving photography, sculpture and audio-visual material. The intervention by Paul Robbrecht from Ghent suddenly places an architect stage centre: hence his proposal is called Wall for a painting / floor for a sculpture'. Paul Robbrecht (bom 1950) already made his mark with the project Architecture for a Zeeland ( 1985) and at Initiatief d'Amis (1986, selection Kaspar Koenig) in the field of spaces for art. His proposal for De Appel is not to change the existing architecture rather to add a new architecture. 'The arrangement of wall and floor have nothing to do with one or other of the techniques for presenting art works, nor are they there to be viewed as a kind of minimal sculpture or as an installation. They are purely components which confront or combine with the art’, says Robbrecht in a statement examining the differences between visual art and architecture. An important distinction is what he calls the 'compensation' (the 'commoditas' of the Classics) which is the same as a ‘positive effort’. The architecture is an invitation to art which in itself does not need to have that positive effort. Robbrecht: 'On the contrary, a lot of important art finds its origins and raison d'être in denial, in the exploration of the counter-world.’ De Appel considered in collaboration with Robbrecht which artists should make use of his invitation. His proposals were Isa Genzken en René Daniëls, artists for whom he has a great deal of respect and with whom he feels an affinity. De Appel is also inviting two artists who would respond in some way other than simply with an isolated painting or sculpture. Philippe van Snick (Belgium) and Cristina Iglesias (Spain) were asked to respond to this new 'space for art'.’ (‘A space for art’, Newsletter De Appel, 2 (1987) 2.)