'Disco Inferno', BRUTUS, Rotterdam (NL)

News

Disco Inferno is an industrial monster of grinding, pulverizing, producing machines, linked together by a spaghetti of tubes, hoses, cables, tanks and pumps. Every detail here has been carefully thought out and sculpted by Atelier Van Lieshout (AVL). Each welding seam, nut or bolt is a conscious choice. These machines run on almost anything – cooking oil, lard, or homemade pyrolysis oil.

The only useful purpose of this complex installation is that it keeps itself in motion, while the excess heat of giant diesel engines that power all the machines and generators is recycled to supply heat for the project’s ultimate destination ‘the happy end of everything spa’.

In an investigation that moves between fascination, aversion and an urge for more, Van Lieshout tests the limits of power, material and greed. “ As long as we have oil or waste plastic, we can keep dancing  on the edge of the volcano” This installation is an open-ended work. It is not a static snapshot of a moment, it will transform with time.

On view at BRUTUS
Thursday – Sunday: 12:00 – 18:00h

Agenda

Current exhibition(s):
Blast Furnace, ART OMI, Ghent NY (USA)
25 May 2019 – Summer 2024
Roof Installation, ROOF-A, Rotterdam (NL)
04 November 2021 – 01 May 2024
50 jaar Ruigoord, Ruigoord, Amsterdam (NL)
21 July 2023 – Summer 2026
Successor, Beeldengallerij Haarlem, Haarlem (NL)
1 October 2023 – September 2025
Being Water, Porto Design Biennale, Porto (PT)
19 October 2023 – 16 March 2024
Feel the Heartbeat, Museum Sint-Janshospitaal, Brugge (BE)
16 December 2023 – 1 June 2024
Human Nature, Casa Pentra, Los Angeles (USA)
28 February 2024 – 23 March 2024

Subscribe to AVL newsletter

Curious about Atelier Van Lieshout’s upcoming exhibitions, recently installed public artworks or work-in-progress images from our studio?

Please sign up for our newsletter here:

De Opvolger, Lely, Maassluis (NL)

News

Farming followed hunting and gathering. What started with the cultivation of small parcels of land ended with the rise of large, professional companies that have found a balance between seasons and systems. Once run by parent, child and helper- today’s farm is high-tech and increasingly run as a business rather than a `family affair’. The helper is still there, but the child more often follows a path that is removed from farm life. Instead, robots now play a central role in farming and Lely is the forerunner in helping to bridge this transition.

Atelier van Lieshout’s De Opvolger (The Successor) pays tribute to the farming family of yesterday, today and tomorrow. This bronze sculpture seems to grow out of the earth and has a robust posture. The figures in this ensemble represent today’s farming family, they are ready to solve any opposition or problem and support their livestock by any means or invention imaginable. The concrete plinth refers to a mound, the oldest architectural tool to secure the early Dutch farmland from the sea.

De Opvolger is permanently placed in front of the new Lely Campus, realized by architect Machiel Hopman of Converse Architects – a destination for innovation and farming of the future. This work is about an evolving craft within the profession, while offering cows the right to choose and live “freely”.

“With this new technology cows get a spa treatment and milk on their own body clock, this is the most humane use of technology, maximum animal rights for all the cows we love . “Joep van Lieshout

Photo made by Nico Alsemgeest

‘Arena’, Nosbaum Reding, Brussels (BE)

Brutalistische Aap, BunkerToren, Eindhoven (NL)

‘Through Bone and Marrow’, BRUTUS, Rotterdam (NL)

‘Sculptura #1’, Sculptura Festival Brussel, Brussel (BE)

‘The Voyage’, BRUTUS, Rotterdam (NL)

‘A Gateway to Possible Worlds’, Centre Pompidou Metz, Metz (FR)

‘It’s About Time’, International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam, Rotterdam (NL)

‘Harmonious Contradiction’, MASA x Sotheby’s, East Hampton, New York (USA)

‘Utopia’, Château Saint-Maur, Saint Tropez (FR)

Solo Exhibition ‘Le Voyage’, Le Portique, Le Havre (FR)

‘MAMA Doc Space’, documenta fifteen, Kassel (DE)

‘Living the Habitat’, Open House, Geneva (CH)

‘De Verleiding’, Bosch Parade, ‘s Hertogenbosch (NL)

‘Light in the Darkness’, Krinzinger Schottenfeld, Vienna (AT)

‘The Head’, University of Twente, Enschede (NL)

‘VOORLOPERS’, Paleis Soestdijk, Baarn (NL)

‘The Whale’, Arts Le Havre, Le Havre (FR)

Atelier Van Lieshout Webshop

SOLO EXHIBITION ‘EHBO’, Galerie Ron Mandos, Amsterdam (NL)

‘Imagine’, ArtZuid 2021, Amsterdam (NL)

‘Het Labyrinth’, Dutch Design Week, Eindhoven (NL)

‘OIL, Beauty and Horror in the Petrol Age’, Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, Wolfsburg (DE)

‘Fake Me Hard’, AVL Mundo, Rotterdam (NL)

’50th Edition’, IFFR, Rotterdam (NL)