Constant 101: The Future can be Humane. In 2021 it was 101 years that the artist Constant was born. On the occasion of this anniversary, Fondation Constant launched the large-scale collaborative project Constant 101. As part of this collaboration, the Cobra Museum of Modern Art organised an exhibition in which, in addition to works by Constant, new work by contemporary artists Antonio Jose Guzman (1971) and Antonis Pittas (1973) were also presented.
Diasporic identity is an important theme in Antonio Jose Guzman’s oeuvre. Moreover, he shares Pittas’ interest in the history of modern art. For example, in an earlier project called Piertopolis Guzman responded to Constant’s New Babylon project by portraying the Homo Ludens as a nomadic people who would live in this future metropolis. For this exhibition Guzman created a series of new sculptural figures that partly refer to Constant’s New Babylon. The figures wear textiles with an abstract pattern based on Guzman’s own DNA sequence. Using this sequence, Guzman has developed a genetic conceptual map that shows that his DNA is the result of a route that runs through several continents. This ‘map’ or ‘pattern’ forms the basis for a number of his multidisciplinary projects and also for the new work commissioned by the Cobra Museum.
Constant: Constant (Constant Nieuwenhuijs, 1920-2005) was not only an artist but also one of the intellectual driving forces behind the Cobra movement (1948-1951). As such, he can be seen as one of the leading co-founders. He became an artist who always dared to explore new paths, did not shy away from challenging collaborations and was above all convinced of the important role that creativity and art play in our society.