Gabriel Kuri's Material Taxonomy at Wiels Brussels Interrogates Consumer Society

Gabriel Kuri's survey exhibition at Wiels in Brussels, running from 6 September 2019 to 5 January 2020, presents over 60 works organized into four material categories: metal, paper, plastic, and construction materials. The Mexican artist's methodical sorting reflects a deep interrogation of civilization through its material infrastructures. His practice frequently involves assisted readymades that transform found objects, echoing Pierre Restany's concept of Nouveau Réalisme as poetic recycling of urban reality. Kuri creates enlarged replicas of financial ephemera like till receipts and bread clips, examining administrative detritus through ethnographic and formalist lenses. The exhibition responds to Wiels's postindustrial architecture, with works ranging from miniature hotel toiletry displays to monumental installations like .)(. (2013), featuring an upright skip and metal sheet counterbalanced by boulders. Currency appears throughout in various states: as aestheticized wads in minimalist boxes, as discarded copper coins in sand installations, and as conflated waste under anti-pigeon spikes. Belgium's discontinuation of one- and two-cent coins adds context to works like Donation Box (2010–19). Kuri's work engages with postminimal sculpture while giving form to invisible economic transactions that shape societal value systems.