Gordon Matta-Clark's First Major Belgian Show in Over 20 Years at La Patinoire Royale

La Patinoire Royale Bach in Brussels, a historic roller skating rink dating to 1877, is hosting the first major solo exhibition in Belgium of American artist Gordon Matta-Clark in over two decades. Running until December 21, 2024, the show occupies the venue's 1,000-square-meter nave with 11-meter-high ceilings. Matta-Clark (1943–1978) was known for cutting into abandoned buildings, altering their architecture and function, and documenting these interventions through photographs, films, and videos. The exhibition features iconic works including collages, photographs, and films, with a focus on 'Office Baroque' (1977), one of his last projects, created in Belgium a year before his death. The film 'Office Baroque' documents his monumental intervention on a five-story building in Antwerp, where he cut circular and semicircular patterns, describing it as 'a walk through a panoramic arabesque.' The building was demolished in 1980 despite efforts to preserve it as a museum. Matta-Clark, son of surrealist painter Roberto Matta, initially studied architecture but rejected modernist teachings. His brief career in the early 1970s included participation in the Anarchitecture group, known for creating openings in urban architectural structures.