LMAKprojects is proud to present its new exhibition Making Traces with works by Lieven de Boeck and Elana Herzog. Both artists work with the experience of site and space. Their practices focus on the layering of time, place, absence, presence and process. Making Traces reflects on the interpretation of space and memory by confronting Herzog’s two monumental sculptures made from utilitarian textiles and staples with De Boeck’s light-boxes, neon sculpture and several smaller sculptures like a calendar and a book.

Elana Herzog integrates the fabrics into the wall with thousands of staples. These create metallic traces that follow the structures of the textiles. Part of the textile and some of the staples have been respectively removed, which results in shredded fabric and perforated wall surface in some areas, and densely stapled areas elsewhere, creating an image whose structure is generated directly from the weave of the fabric. The works are made on reinforced sheetrock panels, which are installed flush with the surrounding walls and seamlessly fused with them, expanding the boundaries of the piece to an indefinite degree. In her work there is an ambiguity of structure: the sweet warmth of the bedspread collides with the blinding staples, and the interior skin of the room is physically sustained within an indistinct and fragile structure.

Lieven de Boeck aims to develop a `dictionary of space’: creating a visual language for the different types of physical spaces that constitutes our spatial environment. He is interested in the changes that occur when individuals alter the occupancy of a `public space’: a house changes into home and a public square becomes a gathering for a series of personal activities. It is the existence of an intimate place within a public area that captivates him. This individualistic approach is the starting point of his work. This is also reflected within the exhibition, wherein he carefully placed his works, for instance his neon sculpture “let us be us,” which can be read in two ways. He initiates a reference to the memory of places, allowing the viewer to create different stories and form opinions.