Peter Buggenhout
The blind leading the blind

Peter Buggenhout assembles formless sculptures using organic materials. He works with things produced by life but discarded, such as wood, dust, hair, and animal intestines. We refer to this as ‘debris,’ both literally and emotionally, where debris is something ‘mournful.’ It is the remnant of ideas and goods that are no longer useful. Peter Buggenhout sees it as the artist’s task to regenerate this debris into manageable and perhaps hopeful material. He displays things we prefer not to see or that culture has taught us not to want to see. He believes that aversion plays a role in the aesthetic experience, creating a play of attraction and repulsion, recognition, and alienation.

With the frequently recurring title The blind leading the blind, Buggenhout refers to the painting of the same name by Pieter Breughel the Elder from 1568, in which a blind man leads other blind men. They do not know where they come from or where they are going. They may stumble, lag behind, or even fall into a pit. Peter Buggenhout sees in this work his vision of the world and how we can think of the world as something unpredictable. This is precisely what his works also embody: the doubt that the viewer experiences when looking at his fabric installations. The sculptural tradition that Peter Buggenhout continues is anything but a search for the sublime in canonical rules.

Experience plays a significant role in Peter Buggenhout’s art, leading him to constantly search for ways to optimize his sculptures within a specific space. He serves the sculptures by making several architectural adjustments. For this exhibition, the four sculptures are presented on glass plates in a tight pattern, and the walls have been painted the same color as the glow emitted by the glass tabletops because they are painted white underneath. The detached coldness in which the sculptures operate creates a contrasting tension. In that environment, the images lead their own lives and evoke their own experience.