CADAVRE
Glass chandelier & Acrylic paint Cadavre is a collaborative artwork
by Davey Waxx Verhaeghe and James Lethbridge Glass, created in response to the history of the old meat processing factory in Antwerp where the Meat Me exhibition was held in 2020.
A slowly rotating circular luxurious object.
This evolving artwork invites visitors to communicate and reflect within the unsettling atmosphere of a former slaughterhouse. At the heart of the installation stands a delicate glass chandelier, a luxurious object that visitors are encouraged to alter with spray paint. Below the dripping chandelier is a slowly rotating circular canvas that captures every droplet of paint and each intervention made by the participants. Each action and layer of paint irreversibly transforms the artwork, making each canvas a unique snapshot of collaboration between artist, space, and visitor.
Beauty and mortality.
This installation tells a profound story of alienation: the abstract canvas catches the dripping paint as an echo of the cattle’s final breath and the visually disturbing imagery of slaughterhouse waste. Through this interplay, Cadavre conveys the intertwining of luxury and neglect, beauty and mortality. As the paint falls upon the canvas, it draws attention to the transformation of flesh into mere product, and how modern society easily dismisses what was once alive.
History of the space.
Alongside Cadavre, the exhibition is enriched with pieces from the original Meat Me show, now part of a new presentation, “A Conversation Between Life and Death.” This creates a dialogue between life and death, luxury and decay, and between the viewer and the history of the space.
Ritual of slaughter.
As visitors leave the installation, they often carry with them traces of paint on their hands and clothing, left by their participation in the work. Yet they may rarely realize that, through what seemed a playful engagement, they have unwittingly taken part in a ritual of slaughter.
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