In the sophisticated setting of Amore (11, rue du Marché-aux-Herbes) a series of videos, on display, will document the construction process of the monumental sculpture on the Robert Schuman Roundabout created by the Belgian artist Stijn Ank for the purposes of the fair. As indicated by the title of the sculpture, which refers to the mythical bird that rises from its ashes, Phoenix illustrates the eternal cycle of life and death. Like most of the artist’s works, Phoenix is the result of an elaborate and partly intuitive process, which starts with a mould built from different materials (wood, aluminium, rubber, etc.), into which plaster is poured and pigments are added during the casting process. The resulting work appears at once fluid and solid, fragile and robust. Through its ambivalence, it explores the concepts of immobility and flux that underlie all forms of life.
