Rib

A radiation warning and a staged time bomb. We collaborate with Etablissement d’en face to present works by Raymond W. Barion and the duo Jos de Gruyter & Harald Thys at 𝑯𝒆𝒕 𝒁𝒖𝒊𝒅 𝑴𝒂𝒏𝒊𝒇𝒆𝒔𝒕: 𝑪𝒂𝒓𝒐𝒍𝒂 𝑳𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒔 𝑪𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒐𝒔.

Raymond W. Barion’s sculpture 𝘋𝘳𝘰𝘱 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘙𝘶𝘯 (2025) is a brass replica of a Cobalt 60 sealed radioactive source. The original Cobalt 60 Column was developed at the Chalk River Laboratories in Ontario in the early 1950s. It was created to help study irradiation effects in biology and industrial contexts. The 'Drop and Run' words engraved in it are supposed to work as a warning, and yet by the time you pick up and start to read 'Drop', the radiation caused by Co60 would already have claimed your arm, finish 'and Run' and the dose of radiation would be lethal.

By the duo Jos de Gruyter & Harald Thys (), an 𝘐𝘮𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘌𝘹𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘋𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘤𝘦 (2025) will be on view. The small cardboard sculpture is an exact copy of a fake time bomb seen in an episode of the German television series Aktenzeichen XY... Ungelöst.

Etablissement d’en face () is an art space in central Brussels. It aims to present artistic practices to an international audience by offering conditions of professional production to a wide spectrum of contemporary artists. Founded in 1991 by the artists Alec De Busschère, Delphine Bedel, Christophe Draeger and Patrick Everaert, it was originally located in the Rue d’Artois and moved to the Rue Antoine Dansaert in 2002. Over the years, it has been programmed by various individuals.

Encounter these works while moving through 𝑯𝒆𝒕 𝒁𝒖𝒊𝒅 𝑴𝒂𝒏𝒊𝒇𝒆𝒔𝒕, from 26–29 March, with free admission in Rotterdam Charlois.

Photo 1: Raymond W. Barion, 𝘋𝘳𝘰𝘱 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘙𝘶𝘯, 2025.

Photo 2: Jos de Gruyter & Harald Thys, 𝘛𝘩𝘦 48 𝘏𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘒𝘸𝘪𝘬 & 𝘒𝘸𝘢𝘬, 2004/2023.