Che Go Eun
— Machinalia

    • – 
    • Station Leuven - Platform 2/3
    • – 
    • Station Brugge - Platform 9/10

_Machinalia _is a fantastical machine that shapeshifts as it traverses the land of Belgium, incorporating visual elements from city legends along the way. Taking the form of a dragon, the machine comes to a halt in Leuven and Bruges, where it temporarily inhabits the glass-walled waiting rooms on the railway platforms. For the work, Che Go Eun took inspiration from the legend of Imugi, a water creature which had to wait for a thousand years to become a real dragon. Her dragon-train echoes the Romantic narrative that accompanied the first steam locomotives on the European mainland, often named after animals or natural phenomena that hinted at power and speed. Besides drawing from Korean mythology, the artist also references the late medieval tales of Margaret of Louvain, and Maertyne van Keyschote of Bruges, respectively murdered for resisting rape, and tortured for lesbianism under the guise of religion and morality.

Trained in Korean traditional painting, Che Go Eun (°1988, South Korea) mainly uses digital collage techniques. Digging into sources ranging from folklore to religious iconography and cyberculture, she investigates the history of places through the lens of issues that concern her today—particularly gender and how social structures across cultures have regulated love and desire. Che Go Eun lives and works between Antwerp and Seoul.

On 05 12 2021, Che Go Eun will have a conversation with curators Caroline Dumalin (Endless Express) and Ko Goubert (M Leuven). Registration for this talk is free; get your ticketshere. More info.

The art trail Endless Express_ _is spread over different destinations along the railway line between Ostend and Eupen. Taking the public sculpture Esprit ouvert by Tapta as a symbolic point of departure, seven artists were invited to present new works around the stations and tracks. With the train as a unifying element, they explore the networked histories embedded in this landscape and entangled with this line. With new works by Che Go Eun, Inas Halabi, Flaka Haliti, Chloé Malcotti, Sophie Nys, Marina Pinsky and Laure Prouvost.

The Ostend-Eupen railway line is the longest in Belgium, traversing its three official language regions in about three hours — from the royal seaside resort in the west to the industrial river valley in the east, with the capital of Brussels in the centre. The train — introduced shortly after Belgium was founded in 1830 — speaks in a broader way of industrialisation, the promise of progress, and how these forces have transformed this country.

The artists included in this exhibition are all based in Belgium or its neighbouring countries. Some imagine the train as a mythical creature re-enchanting the world, others question the notion of thinking in a straight line, as well as labour and its rhythms, or playfully disrupt the clockwork time that helped shape the society of speed we live in today.

Curator: Caroline Dumalin

With the support of Ministry of Culture, Sports & Tourism of Korea, Korea Arts Management Service and the grant programme Fund for Korean Art Abroad.