Sumo: Michael Chia at Op-Weule Cultural Centre



 

Next Friday, 9th March, the opening of Sumo, exhibition by the artist Michael Chia, will take place at Op-Weule Flemish Cultural Centre in Woluwe St Lambert.

Michael was born in the city-state of Singapore and moved to Belgium in the late 80’s. His work can be categorized as  travel photography and the use of available light techniques. Not the usual ‘beautiful and bright images’ of exotic destinations. Instead, he focuses on the social aspects of the destination and its people. Mixing documentary photography with abstract to create an image. For the artist, as he declares, the challenge is to capture all his emotions and imagination, putting them onto a two-dimension piece of paper that could speak without speech. Although he works with digital nowadays, his favourite medium remains the traditional manual camera loaded with a roll of black and white film.

Currently, this photographer is also participating in the exhibition dreams, which is part of Artonivo 2007. In an exploration of the subtle borderline area between contemporary art and craft, artonivo uses an interactive positioning of the art works to create a stimulating thematic presentation of glass objects, ceramics, jewelry and design, side by side with two-dimensional work: textiles, calligraphy, etching, photography, lithography, video, visual poetry, motion graphic design and interaction design. In this collective exhibition Michael Chia exhibites with Mieke Verwaetermeulen, Roos Vercruyce, Jan Duytschaever, Antoon Carette, Tim Oeyen and Sanny Winters.

Now, with Sumo, Michael Chia brings us his personal point of view of such legendary ritual. The general Western eye is not easily attracted by the sight of a Sumo wrestler. Matches often last for not more than a few seconds. Uninformed onlookers can easily be fooled into thinking that encounters will be won by the heavier, hence seemingly stronger, opponent, as no technique is in any way immediately perceptible.

The evening is made possible with the collaboration of (A)way Magazine, Brussels based bi-monthly publication in English for international families living in Belgium; Laboriver.be, digital Photographic Laboratory and Vitamin Travel  Specialist travel agency in Thalasso, adventure and mini trips.

Info: 

The event takes place at:
Gemeenschapscentrum Op-Weule / Op-Weule Flemish Cultural Centre
Sint-Lambertusstraat 91 Rue St Lambert
1200 Sint-Lambrechts-Woluwe/Woluwe St Lambert
10 minutes from Metro Station Roodebeek
 

The exhibition period is 10/3 - 31/3.  the opening hours of the centre are:
Tuesday to Friday : 10.30am - 11.30pm
Saturday : 10.30am to 18pm
Sunday : 10.30am to 1.30pm.  The artist will be present each Sunday between 11.30am - 1.30pm
Closed on Monday.

For more info about Michael Chia visit his personal website