Gert Verhoeven
A Dhondt-Dhaenens Deurle Exhibition

In the work of Gert Verhoeven, everything—or at least a lot—revolves around (pseudo) classification and (quasi) categorization. The status, value, and meaning of an object are largely derived from the placement of that object within a specific system. Verhoeven tries to understand these systems through a continuous analysis of the artist and his place in society, the artificiality of the art world, and the role of the object.

For MDD, Verhoeven creates a museum-wide installation that heavily involves the museum’s collection. In doing so, he takes a certain exhibition tradition within the MDD to its extreme. The primary motivation is that every collection is subject to classification: there are paintings and sculptures that can be further subdivided into portraits, landscapes, still lifes, etc. The museum itself is also subject to classification. For example, MDD is a regionally recognized museum deeply rooted in local history. This connection to the local is developed by Verhoeven in a soundtrack that highlights the classification of language into various dialects.

Gert Verhoeven directs his analytical gaze at the MDD collection. Apart from any aesthetic quality (which, as with the pumpkin cultivation he studies or the aforementioned feet, is hardly relevant), he looks at a possible division into categories and subcategories: portraits, landscapes, sculptures, still lifes...