Casino 2001: Ghent's First Quadrennial Surveys Young International Art

Casino 2001, the first edition of a quadrennial contemporary art exhibition initiated by Jan Hoet, founder of S.M.A.K. (Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst) in Ghent, Belgium, ran from October 28, 2001, to January 13, 2002. Curated by New York-based Jeanne Greenberg Rohatyn, the show featured around sixty artists, most born in the 1970s, presenting works largely unseen in Europe. The title references the former casino that housed S.M.A.K. and evokes themes of chance, spectacle, and entertainment. The exhibition highlighted a dominant use of video (Paul Pfeiffer, Maria Marshall, Patti Chang, Lucas Michael) and childlike, unpretentious works (Gary Webb, Michelle Hines, Franz Ackermann, Kurt Kauper, Mie Nagai), alongside a noted disenchantment (Kendell Geers, Csaba Nemes & Agnes Szépfalvi, Darren Almond). Critic Paul Ardenne observed that the selection was overwhelmingly Western-centric and Anglo-Saxon, with 25 Americans, 8 British, and 6 Germans, but no French artists, suggesting alignment with market trends rather than genuine internationalism. The exhibition was seen as confirming a pop art aesthetic, but Ardenne hoped future editions would be less predictable and more globally inclusive.