Inviter 4 / Martine Cloots

The works by Martine Cloots are intimate and distant at the same time. Her very symbolical works of the Constellations series have exploited the theme to exhaustion. The same seems true for her work Terriens. Through her drawings, photographies and other objects, the artist expresses her wish to combine the hazards of real life, and so of her very own existence, with already existing elements, the so-called ready-mades. Things that already exist can be used to illustrate Man's dreams as well as the whims of fate of everyday life. Nevertheless the notions of nearness and distance in the scientific sense of the term are of increasing importance. 

Inviter is an exhibition that develops in time without however being continuous. At Casino Luxembourg the only yardstick is the place itself, i.e. the two exhibiton rooms put at the disposal of each of the seven artists of Inviter. Within this exhibition, On Kawara's works take in a very special place. The Inviter exhibition being discontinuous in time, On Kawara's works will, in a way, mark the continuity by being present each time a new artist will be a "guest" of Inviter. Of course, this continuity is not self-evident and so we have to see to it that it really exists. Indeed, the arbitrariness of the choice and the coexistence of different works in one and the same place within the framework of an exhibition is not enough to guarantee continuity. My choice just reflects, like Mallarmé puts it, "du fond du naufrage, le heurt successif d'un compte total en formation". In other words, each choice is a matter of chance or like Mallarmé puts it: "Toute pensée émet un Coup de Dés".