A travelling exhibition

In order to realize this project Mark Swysen selected venues far from the elite artistic circuit. Here the innocent viewer can take the time to search for the ‘sense of his life’. In grand total the Causa Vitae project will be exhibited for 365 days . It started its tour in the Antwerp Saint Carolus Borromeus - church and will continue in the Abbeyal Museum of Koksijde and the church of Saint Nicolas in Ghent. Via the Minderbroedersmuseum in Sint-Truiden the tour will be concluded at the cathedral of Hasselt, the artist’s place of birth. In these churches and musea the artist shows a series of oblong paintings - sculptures on steel legs, like ‘human effigies" each referring to a stage in life. The arrangement of the works of art as well as the techniques used position them somewhere in between painting and sculpture.

Symbolism of materials and colours

The first works (birth) are composed of eggshell. The next works are canvases painted in acryl and mixed media combined with metals processed with acids. The resulting colours orange and carmine stand for adolescence and maturity. Burnt wooden panels refer to our own mortal body, which – as the wood - will gradually perish through oxidation. Our bodies are only temporarily protected by a wrinkled skin, for which the artist uses bitumen. The series evolves in colour pattern from an almost absolute white through glowing orange and carmine to the deep brown of autumn, a symbol of old age. It eventually ends in black rubber, elastic and yielding to almost any individual interpretation. The abstraction of these works allows the viewer to interpret the works as he thinks suitable.

 Mental interaction

However impressing this series of life, it is only a preamble to the essence of this project: mental interaction between viewer and author. The visitor is encouraged to literally climb out of the daily bustle by way of a turning steel staircase and through a work of art. The viewer is invited to sit down between the starting point and the final point of his life, symbolized by eggshells and burnt organic material (wood). Through a set of earphones the visitor can now listen to several philosophical theses. Here he can reflect upon his personnal answer to the question: "what is the meaning and the sense of my life?".

The book as a home-version

The exhibition is completed with the book "Causa Vitae", published by Stockmans. The book is an instrument to continue and complete the mental process at home .

The artist Mark Swysen

The essential theme of Swysen’s work is human behaviour and the way in which man confronts life and his surroundings. Whereas each of his works shows very strong emotions, the entire project breathes an air of scientific tactfulness. The artist himself contends that he became an artist because that would allow him to communicate his theses on man without having to scientifically prove them. "Quo Vadis" is a new project which the artist will be exhibiting in the "Landscommanderij" in Alden Biesen, cultural centre of the Flemish community. "Quo Vadis" encourages the visitor to thoroughly consider national borders, migrations of people and cultural integration (or the lack of it).