In the shadows of tall trees

Brenda van Vliet

If you only look at the treetops, you’ll miss what it’s all about.

Beneath the canopy lies a world of thriving fungi, insects, flowers and other inhabitants of the forest floor. Messy, fragile and indispensable. In the 17th century, the Dutch artist Otto Marseus van Schrieck depicted this hidden world for the first time using a new genre: Sottobosco, the forest-floor still life. It is not the spectacular that takes centre stage, but what usually goes unnoticed.

As part of this exhibition, Wit.h is inviting artists from home and abroad to make the forest floor visible once again. Artists who often work away from the limelight. Some operate on the fringes of what is regarded as normal or taken for granted. Not out of the picture, but out of frame.

Sottobosco invites you to take a closer look. At hidden lives, unexpected connections and new ways of working together. For what makes a forest grow rarely sees the full light of day. Often, the greatest strength is hidden in the shadows.

With work of:
Lien Anckaert & Lara Jokoba Breine – Hans Beckers & Johan Geenens – Line Boogaerts & Ditmar Goes – Patricia Cala – Ignace Cami & Brenda van Vliet – Dominique Cokelaere – Collectief Créahm Liège m.m.v. Sébastien Alouf – Collectief De Beelderij Torhout – Clément Cretoir – Klaas Debaere & Koen Remmery – Jurgen Decossemaecker – Kar Hang Mui – Arnaud Rogard & Jonas Vansteenkiste – Klaas Rommelaere & Franz von Saalfeld – Pieternelle Soete – Firat Tagal – Edward Teeuw – Topo Copy in collaboration with Hannes Legrand – Thibault van Hagen – Jérôme Van Roye – Mieke Vanhessche – Amber Vanluffelen, Sandra Vermeersch & Pedro Mortaignie – Agnetha Verfaillie, Sandra Vermeersch & Lars Andries

In collaboration with Wit.h