MASEREEL

Patrick Van Caeckenbergh’s Het Multiversum (The Multiversum) ingeniously combines a haptic micro experience with a cosmic macro perspective.
By simulating the impressive beauty, magic and wonder of nature, each exquisitely decorated bubble gum gently addresses our anthropocentric, destructive relationship to our environment. The complexity enters when this dizzying image simultaneously also resembles the toxic soap in which viruses develop and grow, until the moment where they jump from animals to humans and freeze our daily life to a stop. Similar to a bubble gum which gets viscous and evokes aversive stimuli when you chew too long on it. Or a disrespectful exploitation that explodes in your face.
In addition, the artist created an accompanying prescription.

Besides the bubble gum, the artist also put together a small amount of vending machines, filled with 107 numbered plastic capsules, which come with a signed photographic print.

This work was commissioned by Frans Masereel Centrum as part of the offline and offsite group project Solitude.