10 AM – 5:45 PM, every day
KEI - Revalidatieziekenhuis aan zee, Dewittelaan 1
B-8670 Oostduinkerke
Hilde Van Gelder's solo-exhibition En Attendant opens at Koningin Elisabeth Instituut (KEI), a rehabilitation center in the coastal resort of Coxyde.
On the opening day, July 10, 2025, at 4 PM, the artist will offer a guided tour.
En attendant is an experimental art historical research project that seeks to attract curiosity and spark imagination, in relation to complex topics such as recovery and ecology. The multi-media installation includes oil paintings as well as photographs, shot on land and at sea, with an emphasis on sustainable practice. All works have been created in close dialogue with this special building, still well-embedded in the natural beauty of the sand dunes. En attendant invites you to discover the soul of the place. Animated by its staff and residents, KEI radiates a magical energy infused by care and hospitality.
In the ambulatory corridor of the clinic, a five-meter-long magnetic wall will be filled with replicas of ancient postcards from the artist's personal collection. By September 27, 2025, when the finissage event is held, a large set of new postcards will replace these replicas. They will have been posted in a letter box at KEI itself or have been sent by regular mail to the clinic by employees, patients, their caregivers, as well as other visitors to the exhibition. Everyone is encouraged to become a co-creator of this unconventional and intergenerational Rehabilitation-Motivation Wall. Its grid-like surface will come to pay tribute to the force emerging from being motivated for recovery - be it as an individual or collectively, while aspiring for a future, more harmonious balance between humans, flora, and fauna. Thus, it is a proposal to reflect together upon potentialities - that about which we do not yet have much knowledge, but for which we can yearn together in the meantime.
