RHIZOMA, a new international biennial for contemporary art, launches its inaugural edition at the MASEREEL arts centre from May 25th to July 13th, 2025. Titled Our Future Is To Live With Bruises, the biennial unfolds across five indoor and outdoor venues within walking distance of the MASEREEL site, transforming the area into a multi-sensory platform for art and dialogue.
RHIZOMA brings together 14 artists whose works explore themes of vulnerability, resilience, and the shifting nature of human connection. Inspired by a 2015 poem by Otobong Nkanga—who also presents a new commission—the biennial reflects on fragility, not as defeat, but as a shared condition shaped by time and context.
Rooted in interdisciplinary practice, RHIZOMA spans video, installation, painting, print, and text. Over half of the works are new commissions, exhibited alongside recent and historical pieces never before shown in Belgium. The biennial includes a standout project by Jeremy Deller, blending wit and critique to probe collective memory and social ritual. Clara Spilliaert contributes illustrations that move between myth and reality, while Amar Kanwar presents a poetic video installation addressing ecological grief and justice.
RHIZOMA positions itself not just as an exhibition, but as a living space for exchange—connecting artists, audiences, and the local community. Public programming includes artist talks, printmaking workshops, and a panel discussion on the evolving format of the biennial itself.
Curated by Artistic Director Stijn Maes, with graphic design by Studio Remco van Bladel, RHIZOMA reimagines the potential of the biennial as a poetic, political, and communal gesture—one that invites viewers to sit with complexity and move forward, bruised but awake.
