M HKA Ensembles

Print, 7 x (49.5 x 69.5 cm).

Collection: Collection M HKA, Antwerp (Inv. no. BK7439_M295).

The series of prints 7 Childlike Uses of Warlike Material was made by Robert Filliou in collaboration with Hartmut Kaminski in Düsseldorf, where Filliou resided at the time. For this photo series they worked with objets trouvés, just ordinary objects from everyday life. A text is applied to each photograph, identifying the objects as a variety of potential ordnance, with a suggested use alongside. In the accompanying text, Filliou muses on how he can banish this war material to imagined places: "I can put the submarine on the mountains. the missile on the moon. the uniforms around the stars." Filliou sees the work as a “contribution to the art of peace”. The series is a playful and poetic ode to the childlike power of imagination.