Peggy Franck & Marijke de Roover

TheMerode has the pleasure to welcome Christian Mooney, English gallerist living in London, he is the owner and director of Arcade representing 14 international artists. 

Established in 2007, Arcade offers exhibitions, performances, talks, and publications, exploring contemporary art's complexities. The gallery supports artists and investigates art's relevance in public life.

Arcade's visual identity, a comma or breath mark, symbolizes reflection, inspired by artist Anna Barham. During the 2020-2021 lockdowns, this motif reflected the gallery's pause to question art's purpose and impact on society. This mission aligns with TheMerode's belief that art, freedom, education, and creativity can change society faster than politics.

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As part of their varied practices, Peggy Franck and Marijke De Roover perform with and for the camera; each from opposing ends of 'image capture'. 

Franck's sensitive approach to photography utilises analog techniques and processes that are increasingly obsolescent whilst De Roover generates images as a consistent stream, on the fly, shared via social media, reflecting the rhythms of celebrity gossip and social affairs. 

About the artists :

Peggy Franck
Born 1978, Amsterdam, NL. Lives and works in Amsterdam, NL. Peggy Franck is known for her spatial investigations that combine photography, painting and site-specific installations. Franck's characteristic brushstrokes represent the result of a longer and less visible process, as these function as gestures and visualisations of the artist's inner world, arranging themselves on paper, wood, abjects and walls, giving the impression of being alive, in constant dialogue and movement. 

Marijke de Roover
Born 1990, Ghent, BE. Lives and works in Brussels. Marijke De Roover is a part-time professional karaoke singer and meme connaisseur, yet currently known mostly for her queer/feminist performance work. ln her artworks, she deals with questions regarding the nuclear family, feminism/motherhood, ethics of reproduction, and love, romance and compulsory heteronormativity under late capitalism.