GHENT.- The exhibition in the S.M.A.K. originates in an ambitious plan of Michel François (b. 1956 Sint-Truiden, BE), along the lines of his project “Faux Jumeaux” (“False Twins”), shown at S.M.A.K. between October 18, 2008 and January 3, 2010.

For the past 25 years he has been developing an artistic concept in the form of a ‘rhizome’. His installations are assemblages of elements from diverse technical and conceptual layers of meaning. These assembled works were presented in various exhibitions such as the Biennale of Sao Paulo in 1994, the Documenta in 1992 or in the Centre Georges Pompidou in 2002. He shows photographic work as well as videos and sculptural work, relating all this to heterogeneous material.

The exhibition can be looked upon as a complex of scenes that is being brought up to date and renewed. On the occasion of this exhibition with a retro-and pro-spective character, a catalogue will be compiled.

The exposition of Michel François will be shown in IAC - l'Institut d'art contemporain at Villeurbanne from the 12th of March untill the 9th of May 2010.

Michel François lives and works in Brussels. Past solo exhibitions include Frac Haute-Normandie, Rouen, France; Frac Aquitaine, Bordeaux, France; Art Pace Foundation, San Antonio, Texas; De Pont Museum of Contemporary Art, Tilburg; Space Vox, Montreal; CCA Kitakyushu, Japan; Westfalischer Kunstverein, Münster; Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France; Kunsthalle Bern, Switzerland and Haus der Kunst, Munich, Germany. François’s work has also been included in numerous group exhibitions such as the 49th Venice Biennale – where he represented Belgium together with Ann Veronica Janssens, The São Paolo Biennial XXII, Documenta IX and Sonsbeek 2008.