Photo : Stéphane Bourgeois
FOLLOW THE LEADERS
From May 16, 2025 to January 4, 2026
Isaac Cordal’s installation Follow the Leaders is a powerful commentary on the current state of western societies, as we face the ravages of unchecked capitalism and looming threat of environmental catastrophe. In a mise-en-scène on the gallery floor, miniature effigies of men in suits and ties grapple with some kind of disaster. These powerless, impassive figures sink into the rubble of urban disintegration, gradually engulfed by a ruined landscape.
The scene captures the paralysis of bureaucratic systems and the inaction of political leaders, while underscoring the obedient apathy of the masses before the threat of imminent collapse. The title’s black humour heightens the work’s critique of government passivity and the absurdity of capitalism’s empty promises. By denouncing collective inertia, Follow the Leaders seeks to build awareness and spur us into address the urgent challenges we face.
The installation takes visitors along a winding passageway through the ruined landscape displayed on the floor of Gallery 2. Conceived in situ, it integrates architectural elements like the raw material of the stone walls. And the artist’s meditation reaches beyond the gallery walls with the Cement Eclipses public art walk.
Using photography and sculptures, Cordal emphasises on the double – edged concept of mass tourism. He suggests that tourists are the most effective army in history, and at some point, we are all part of an immense mass that colonises the world. We change into our vacation clothes, just to be part of the machinery called tourism. We open our suitcases in remote places, look out the window and everything becomes an immense set. We stand in huge lines under the sun to confirm that what we see is real, and corresponds to the image described in travel guides. It fills us with vitality to observe that the passage of time and nature have not yet completely overcome the vestiges of the past, and for a moment, a halo of immortality is captured on our memory cards. The terrifying thing is that these places disappear as we visit them.
26-10-2023 / 25-02-2024
