Exhibitions2013Sculpture dans la Ville - L'Age d'Or

To incorporate contemporary art into the public arena, in the heart of Namur, and so allow access to the general public - this is the aim of the "Sculpture in Town" tour, an event organised and run by the Cultural Service for more than 10 years now. This year, only one monumental, emblematic, 'must-see' work was chosen: L'Age d'Or by the renowned British artist Gavin Turk.

Disembodied from any room, structure or building, this painted bronze door, which appears from its peeling varnish to have been left exposed to the elements for some years, opens or closes (depending on which way you look at it) onto infinite possibilities and nothingness, alike. A playful homage to William Blake’s famous doors of perception, visitors are invited to walk through Turk’s door into the enchanting realms of the imagination and beyond.

Gavin Turk (b. 1967) is a British born, international artist. He has pioneered many forms of contemporary sculpture that are now taken for granted, including the painted bronze, the waxwork, the recycled art-historical icon and the use of rubbish in art.

Turk’s installations and sculptures deal with issues of authorship, authenticity and identity. Concerned with the ‘myth’ of the artist and the ‘authorship’ of a work, Turk’s engagement with this Modernist, avant-garde debate stretches back to the ready-mades of Marcel Duchamp.