Antony Gormley. Geestgrond

Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev

This catalogue accompanies Antony Gormley’s exhibition Geestgrond at the Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp. Combining geest (spirit, mind, breath) and grond (earth, soil, foundation), the title joins matter and mind, grounding thought in material form. This condition runs through Gormley’s work, from early lead body cases to recent sculptures where the body remains present and grounded even in its most dematerialised states.

Marking the most comprehensive presentation of Gormley’s work in continental Europe, the exhibition unfolds in dialogue with the museum’s historic collection and the city of Antwerp. With installation views and over 275 colour plates, a new essay by the curator, an extensive chronology-anthology, and the first scholarly study of Gormley’s body-cast techniques, Antony Gormley. Geestgrond traces the roots and ongoing relevance of a practice that asks: what does it mean to be human today?