Tatiana Trouvé at Xavier Hufkens

Look Closer no. 2

Article

October 2026

In Look Closer, we focus on a single artwork that invites us to look longer and more closely. In this episode, we visit The Auxiliaries an exhibition by French-Italian artist Tatiana Trouvé (b. 1968) at Xavier Hufkens gallery in Brussels. Together with Piet Bloquiaux, we discover how everyday objects from her studio, from mattresses to wooden pallets and beer cans, are transformed into artworks themselves.

NE:

What are we looking at exactly?

PB:

We’re sitting on a bench, a ‘sitting sculpture’, as Tatiana Trouvé calls them. When you look at these from far away, you recognise what you see: a mattress with a wooden pallet underneath. And then you see some fabrics and a wooden crate. But when you look a bit closer, you see that the mattress is actually made from bronze, and the fabric is made from marble.

These everyday objects, that the artist uses in her studio to drag along the artworks, or to conserve or protect them, become the artwork. So the artist reverses that idea of what we have to look at. These, what she calls ‘auxiliary workers’, these invisible workers, become the artwork.

When you come even closer, you see all these painterly details on the artwork. You see the fabric patina, the signs of wear and tear of a person that has been there, but is no longer there. And so the transformation of the object continues into the materiality. In the work of Tatiana, the lines between what is sculpture and what is painting really fade.

NE:

You were saying that she uses the mattresses to drag things. What kind of things is she dragging?

PB:

Stone slabs, for instance. These are the actual marble slabs, or this is travertine, that she uses to make her works. And so these invisible workers kind of support her artwork and become the artwork.

NE:

She calls them ‘sitting sculptures’. But can we, as viewers, actually sit on them?

PB:

Yes, you can sit on them. They’re made to sit on.

NE:

For Tatiana, all objects are animated. They have their own spirit. Can you explain a little bit more?

PB:

She is what’s called an animist. She believes that every object has a spirit, and every object is equal in that sense. So she will think about the pencil she uses, the shoes she wears, the mattress she uses in her studio.

These objects, what she sees as ‘auxiliary workers’, the invisible workers that kind of create her work and her exhibition, she wants to put on a pedestal and make them the artwork. Things we usually wouldn’t look at.

So the beer can she drinks from when she’s painting, which is also an invisible worker in a way, she makes it into a permanent sculpture in this exhibition.

NE:

Do you know if the objects are happy that they became sculptures?

PB:

I’m not an animist myself, so I don’t know if they’re happy. I don’t speak to them. But I think that if I were a beer can and suddenly I was in a gallery as a bronze object, I would be very happy.

Tatiana Trouvé | foto: Hélène Pambrun & Thomas Merle, met dank aan de kunstenaar

Fig 1. Tatiana Trouvé | photo: Hélène Pambrun & Thomas Merle

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Tatiana Trouvé (b. 1968) is a French-Italian artist, born in Cosenza, Italy, and raised in Dakar, Senegal. She now lives and works in Paris. Through her sculptures, drawings and installations, she explores our experience of time, space and memory. In her hands, everyday objects take on new forms and meanings, blurring the boundaries between reality and imagination. Her work has been exhibited at institutions including the Centre Pompidou in Paris and Palazzo Grassi in Venice. In 2007, she was awarded the prestigious Prix Marcel Duchamp.

De tentoonstelling The Auxiliaries van Tatiana Trouvé is nog t/m 31 oktober 2026 te zien bij galerie Xavier Hufkens (St-Georges) in Brussel.