Autorijschool Z [Car - driving school Z], 1979-1989
Installation, 260 x 535 x 1024 cm.
©image: M HKA
Collection: Collection M HKA, Antwerp (Inv. no. S0032).
In 1979 Guillaume Bijl wrote a fictional pamphlet in which he stated that the government had decided that art was socially irrelevant and that art spaces should be converted into places of benefit to society. The first work of art in this ‘Art Liquidation Project’ was the installation *Driving School Z *(1979). Bijl closed the Ruimte Z gallery in Antwerp and transformed it into a socially beneficial institution, a driving school. He fitted out the space with all the accessories associated with a driving school and so created a perfect imitation of reality. Over the front window hangs a sign saying Autorijschool Z (‘Driving School Z’). The scene was set so meticulously that chance passers-by assumed the gallery had become a driving school. The illusion was perfect. The artist also realised that when assembling the installation he was acting as a sculptor in his choice and arrangement of the objects. *‘Every installation I create is actually thoroughly well-considered. What I make is always like a stage set. It is composed in a deliberate, reasoned way so as to portray reality’*
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>installation view
>Original drawing Autorijschool Z by Guillaume Bijl.
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Artist
> Guillaume Bijl.
Exhibitions & Ensembles
> Exhibition: The collection XXVIII – If you shoot a bullet in a vacuum, will it keep travelling forever? (Emily Wardill). M HKA, Antwerpen, 17 June 2011 - 18 September 2011.
> Exhibition: Guillaume Bijl. MUHKA, Antwerp, 13 April 1996 - 09 June 1996.
> Exhibition: The Collection II and a Choice of Donations and Loans. MUHKA, Antwerpen, 30 June 1990 - 04 November 1990.
> Exhibition: The Collection – Luc Deleu. MuHKA, Antwerpen, 31 May 2003 - 17 August 2003.
> Exhibition: Guillaume Bijl – “40 YEARS INSTALLATIONS" 1979 - 2019 (Celebration). M HKA, Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst Antwerpen, Antwerp, 14 September 2019 - 05 January 2020.
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> Ensemble: M HKA_DEFAULT_WORKS.
> Ensemble: Transformatie Installaties [Transformation Installations].
> Ensemble: GUILLAUME BIJL ENSEMBLE.
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> Ensemble: Transformations and Situations.
> Ensemble: NUCLEUS.