LIVING MATTER: MARLENE ALMEIDA AND WALTER LEBLANC IN BRUSSELS
Inspired by the visionary spirit of Walter and Nicole Leblanc, the Foundation launches a new programme of exhibitions, residencies, and events, reaffirming its commitment to artistic inquiry, international dialogue, and critical engagement with the urgencies of our time.
Terra Agônica brings together Brazilian artist Marlene Almeida and Walter Leblanc in a striking encounter between materiality, gesture, and process. A distinctive voice in Latin American contemporary art, Almeida’s practice unfolds at the confluence of art, ecology, and ancestral memory. For over five decades, she has developed a singular body of work rooted in the material and symbolic richness of the earth. Since the 1970s, she has investigated the expressive potential of natural pigments, particularly mineral clays and plant-based binders, collected from across Brazil’s diverse geological and cultural landscapes. These pigments are not merely tools, but the very substance of her aesthetic, philosophical, and political enquiry. Terra Agônica marks Almeida’s first presentation in Belgium.
Best known for his torsions, monochromes, and experiments with light, Walter Leblanc’s early work reveals a lesser-known yet crucial phase in his career—one where the tactile qualities of matter take center stage. These formative explorations offer new insight into the evolution of his engagement with rhythm, structure, and perception, and open a dialogue with Almeida’s materially grounded, process-driven practice.
Launched with projects by Mario García Torres, Edith Dekyndt, and Hana Miletić, the exhibition programme of the Foundation has established a space for contemporary perspectives to engage with Leblanc’s work through conceptual, material, and political lenses.
A symposium on October 9, 2025, in collaboration with the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp and Centrum Kunstarchieven Vlaanderen, will explore Walter Leblanc’s archive as a living tool for research and transmission. Lisa Le Feuvre, Ursula Davila-Villa, Rossana Miele, Johan Pas, Nico Dockx and other international guests will reflect on the role of archives in contemporary practice and on strategies for preserving and activating artists’ legacies. This event concludes a pilot programme supported by the Flemish Government that investigates new institutional models for engaging with archival material.
Founded in 2006, the Walter & Nicole Leblanc Foundation is a Brussels-based non-profit organisation dedicated to preserving, studying, and sharing the work of Walter Leblanc. With a collection of over 500 artworks and archival items, and under the directorship of María Inés Rodríguez and a dedicated team, the foundation organises exhibitions, symposia, a residency program and publications in collaboration with artists, researchers, and institutions worldwide.
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