The S.M.A.K.

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Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst

Municipal Museum for Contemporary Art

Went to the SMAK on the Friday night that I arrived in Belgium. Fortunately they were having a "Nocturne" (first Friday of every month), so the museum was open late, and admission was free.

What can I say about the SMAK? I wasn't sure what to expect from a modern art museum, but I enjoyed it immensely (which kind of surprised me). The artwork exhibited a level of creativity that I've never encountered before. Don't get me wrong...some of it was weird, some of it was disturbing, some of it was really cool, and some of it was dumb, but that's just my opinion. I will definately go back. In fact, I just looked at the website, and it looks like all the exhibits change on January 28.

Some of the exhibits that I really enjoyed were "installation" style artwork exhibiting the interaction between audio and video. I will try to explain one of the pieces here. You walk into a room and on floor are three white, rectangular (about 3 feet by 5 feet), shallow (about 1 inch deep), pans of water. These pans of water are mounted on several upward facing subwoofer type speakers. The speakers are playing various combinations of low frequency sounds, causing the water to ripple in unusual patterns. It may not sound like much, but I thought it was great.

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Photos

SMAK Art
I thought this was really cool. I don't think my photo does it justice.

SMAK Art
Illuminated Barrel with Bullett Holes?

SMAK Art
This one was hilarious. I don't know if you can tell, but the woman on the right is pointing a shotgun at the camera.

SMAK Art
This reminded me of my Uncle's artwork.

SMAK Art
This is called an installation. It's not a painting or a photo or a sculpture, but...well, an installation.

SMAK Art
Installation

SMAK Art
An ornate mahogany cement mixer surrounded by elaborately painted shovels? Whatever.

SMAK Art
Installation

SMAK Art
Installation

SMAK Art
When you looked in at the installation in the previous photo, you had to look through the big square cut in the wall. This was what was on the floor in the space between the drywall. Not sure what it means, but it was definitely put there on purpose.

SMAK Art
Light and sound.