Modern Subjects, Chapter Zero
R. H. Quaytman
Published by Wiels, Brussels, 2021, 62 pp. (colour & b/w ill.), 19.5 × 12 cm, English
Price: €12

Produced on the occasion of the exhibition R. H. Quaytman: Modern Subjects, Chapter Zero at Wiels, Brussels, 10 September, 2021–30 January, 2022, which explored Brussels’ artistic history and, more specifically, the relationship to power of some of the artists with whom the artist shares an affinity, such as Magritte and Broodthaers. In preparatory research, Quaytman came across the painter Antoine Wiertz and his personal museum, which is now nestled in the heart of the European Quarter. With its unique and spectacular hanging, this museum bears witness to the golden age of monumental painting, which was in the throes of decline in the face of photography and film. Wiertz sought to compensate for this waning with an overabundance of moralising subjects condemning injustice and inequality. He depicted chilling scenes of poverty, war, suicide, or cholera.

Designed by Goda Budvytytė.

#2021 #godabudvytyte #painting #rhquaytman #wiels
Catalogue Raisonnable
Jef Geys
Published by MER Books, Ghent & Wiels, Brussels, 2025, 464 pp. (colour & b/w ill.), 21 × 29.7 cm, English/Dutch
Price: €59

The first total survey of Jef Geys’ work. Art critics commonly describe the work of Belgian artist Jef Geys (1934–2018) as “unruly, and impossible to categorize in conventional art-historical categories.” Despite Geys’ subversive and critical attitude towards the art world, this ambitious publication shows that his work is not only deeply engaged and socially critical but also funny and sensory.

Since the early 1960s Geys had compiled an archive of everything he considered part of his artistic practice in to form of his “List of Works” serving as his oeuvre’s index. With a total of 844 entries, Catalogue Raisonnable, is the first total survey of Jef Geys’ work. Through access to the artist’s archive, close collaboration with Geys’ next of kin, and thorough art-historical research, this publication offers a rare opportunity for understanding and appreciating the fascinating practice of one of Belgium’s greatest artistic figures.

Designed by Joris Kritis & Adriaan Van Leuven.

#2025 #adriaanvanleuven #dirksnauwaert #jefgeys #joriskritis #merbooks #wiels
The Body Decides
Franz Erhard Walther
Published by Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König, Cologne; Wiels, Brussels & CAPC Musée d'art contemporain de Bordeaux, Bordeaux, 2014, 116 pp. with 6 pop-ups (colour & b/w ill.), 18 × 22 cm, English
Price: €290

Produced on the occasion of the exhibition Franz Erhard Walther at Wiels, Brussels, 21 February–11 May, 2014 and Franz Erhard Walther: The Body Decides at CAPC, Bordeaux, 13 November, 2014–3 March, 2015.

A pop up book for adults, this catalogue on the work of Franz Erhard Walther sought its inspiration in the artist’s work in order to determine the publication-form that might most appropriately convey the centrality of action to the artist’s oeuvre. The performativity at the heart of Walther’s more than a half century long practice is underscored through the appearance of six brightly coloured elementary pop up forms spread throughout the book.

#capc #elenafilipovic #franzerhardwalther #verlagderbuchhandlungwaltherkonig #wiels
OBSTAKLES
Willem Oorebeek
Published by Roma Publications, Amsterdam, 2025, 304 pp. (colour & b/w ill.), 24 × 34 cm, English
Price: €40

Produced on the occasion of Oorebeek’s major survey exhibition at WIELS in Brussels, this richly illustrated book presents re-readings of fifty years’ work and the materiality of production. These are numbered according to recollection, organised under headings, and translated from Dutch to English. The translations are coloured by two years of conversation with editor/designer Will Holder—accounting for ambiguity, rabbit-holes, and an [un]conscious preference for “quasi-” “ofschoon…” “enzovoort.” Repetition, alliteration, and other material, musical and metric devices are placed on the page, quite intentionally, designed “an sich” to facilitate memory and recall; complementing the book’s many scale details of work itself.

#2025 #romapublications #wiels #willholder #willemoorebeek
Sorted, Resorted
Gabriel Kuri
Published by WIELS, Brussels and Koenig Books, London, 2019, 152 pages (colour & b/w ill.), 25 × 28 cm, English / Dutch / French
Price: €39

Produced on the occasion of the exhibition Gabriel Kuri: sorted, resorted at WIELS, Brussels, 6 September–5 January, 2020. Using familiar materials such as receipts, newspaper, and plastic bags, Mexican-born, Los Angeles-based artist Gabriel Kuri (b. 1970) is interested in the way that money mediates almost all human relationships.

Featuring an introduction by senior curator Zoë Gray and an essay by art historian Cathleen Chaffee (Chief Curator, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo), and four texts exploring our material world by Brian Dillon (author, Professor of Creative Writing at Queen Mary, University of London). Published in English with translations in French and Dutch. Designed by OK-RM.

#2019 #briandillon #gabrielkuri #wiels #zoegray
KEMPENS INFORMATIEBLAD: SPECIALE EDITIE WIELS
Jef Geys
Published by WIELS, Brussels & Jef Geys, Balen, 2013, 28 pages, (colour & b/w ill.), 29.2 × 44.5 cm, English / French / Dutch
Price: €8

Kempens Informatieblad, was a newspaper published by Belgian artist Jef Geys between 1971 and 2018.

Since the early 1960s, in addition to his interlocking artistic and pedagogical work, Geys was also involved in the production and distribution of a local newspaper, the Kempisch Reklaamblad, on whose pages he began to publish various textual and pictorial material among the advertisements placed therein. After it was discontinued, Geys took over the paper and continued it under his own direction as Kempens Informatieblad.

Functioning as an alternative to the conventional artist catalog, the issues, over 50 in total, were mostly published in connection with his exhibitions. As an information system directed by the artist, it successively developed into a kind of meta-medium within his practice, through which he himself organized his representation and mediation—beyond the exhibition context.

#2013 #jefgeys #kempensinformatieblad #wiels