12 Antwerp hosts a new exhibition of artist Yorgos Maraziotis’ works, curated by Aim EU, reusing the building’s original elements to spatially reflect the content and ideas of a creative showcase.

Key features

The exhibition, Displaced, explores the idea that tension is created when removing objects and people from their original contexts. It is set inside 12 Antwerp, a renovated Art Nouveau building, initially constructed to facilitate a shipping agency’s operations, which now hosts a versatile range of activities such as exhibitions, a café, an events venue and Aim Architecture’s European creative offices. Its versatile functions seek to fuse cultural influences and act as a community hub. Its history and new use cases make it a fitting location for the artist’s showcase as the constant flow of goods and manpower is inscribed in the location’s history; a theme explored through the current exhibition.

During the interior renovation, overseen by Aim's European office, structural components have been collected and repurposed for the current exhibition’s setting. Elements like Art Nouveau carved doors, room partitions and wooden frames, are now strategically placed in the new gallery space on the ground floor, serving as sculptures devoid of their original functions. Arranged among them are a series of handcrafted neon sculptures, everyday objects and printed material creating a dialogue that perceives history and memory as variable notions affected by time. 

FRAME’s take

Located in the multicultural city of Antwerp – the municipality has approximately 174 registered nationalities represented – Yorgos Maraziotis and Aim’s new exhibition raises crucial questions on displacement. With increased migration rates recorded in recent years, Displaced touches on the tensions created when humans forcibly or voluntarily move from one place to another, an idea that is further explored and articulated in its scenography. The building’s integral components have been taken out of their original context and functions and scattered throughout the space giving them new meanings. Neon colours contrast with the ornately carved wooden doors and window frames, highlighting a clash of elements that might not typically be used alongside one another. Despite this, the space is still cohesive, demonstrating the artist’s suggested notion that displacement does not automatically equate to devaluation. The exhibition prompts individual reflection by providing a setting that remains thought-provoking and open to interpretation.