Download the catalogue of the exhibition

Killifishes are small fishes living in shallow puddles, potholes and the like throughout America, South Europe, Africa and Asia. To survive, they jump from one puddle to the other. Although many killifish species exhibit beautiful colors, killifish are difficult to find in aquarium shops, since they are difficult to produce on a mass scale and thrive in conditions which are not consistent with everyman's idea of a cute aquarium. Still, a huge community of killikeepers exist, each killikeeper preventing his fishes from jumping out of its aquarium.

Working for more than three years with these jumping fishes, Swedish artist Mateusz Herczka presents his latest projects related to killifishes in his first Belgian solo show. Prints, videos and installations have been created during his three month residence at the Verbeke Foundation (June-September 2011). Above one of the truck servicing pits in the foundation, Herczka builds his Puddle Drive-through Simulation, the biggest killifish artificial habitat ever made: a huge cube of glass and metal with a reconstruction of a puddle found in the middle of a road in Guyana, with a truckwheel rolling through it... as it happens everyday in South America's jungles, when trucks drive through the puddles in which the killifishes live.

With his killifish projects, Mateusz Herczka shows how animals infiltrate human daily environment and multiply their chance to survive in an age where biological evolution is being overrun by human cultural evolution. Interested in killikeeper's knowledge and ingenuity, Mateusz Herczka also delivers a vivid reflection on contemporary amateur or citizen science.

On the occasion of the exhibition, the Verbeke Gallery will publish a catalogue : a complete overview of Mateusz Herczka's projects related to killifishes between 2009 and 2011.

www.mateuszherczka.net