Ivo (pull Belgian left), Vincent (push Belgian left), Ana (pull Belgian right), Herr Eberle (push Belgian right)

This work by Sophie Nys consists of four doors coated with a grey neutral primer. Each door can be opened and closed in its own specific way following the Belgian normative system, which is diametrically opposed to the European DIN standards for the swing direction of doors. Whereas the former relies on the position of the hinge to determine whether a door swings right or left, the latter is guided by the hand that is used to open the door. Consequently, a "Belgian left" is really a "European right" and vice versa.

With this installation, Sophie Nys explores how technical conventions reflect broader questions of national culture, social norms and international politics. Left versus right, boundaries blurring or being imposed: the work makes these abstract contradictions distinctly tangible. Nys named the doors after psychotherapists, a reference to the mental work that is required to create new openings through reflection and insight, and to really move on. In this way, something as mundane as a door becomes a powerful symbol of exclusion, orientation and progress, and pigeonholes and boundaries that are – often unconsciously – perpetuated.

This work was produced in collaboration with WIELS.