We are delighted to see a work by Nicola L., "Egg Round Table" (2008), from our collection, presented in “Nicola L., When the Earth Turned the Other Way” at the MHKA – Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst Antwerpen (Belgium). This marks the first major retrospective in Belgium entirely dedicated to Nicola L.Nicola L. worked at the intersection of visual art, design, and performance. She is known for creating works that actively engage audiences and question existing power structures and gender roles.

Her iconic "Penetrables" are soft, body-like forms that can be worn or entered, blurring the boundary between viewer and artwork. Throughout her career, she explored the female body as a symbol of both freedom and constraint. Her work combines humor, political engagement, and playful experimentation with materials and space.

The exhibition presents approximately 90 works drawn from various collections and from Nicola L.’s estate, including sculptures, large-scale "Penetrables," films, paintings, collages, texts, and archival materials. It highlights the practice’s dual nature as both visually striking and politically performative.

"When the Earth Turned the Other Way" situates her work within an international context, emphasizing her connections with Fluxus, Marcel Broodthaers, and other avant-garde artists. Visitors will experience the interactive nature of her work and are invited to engage with its deeper themes related to gender, the body, and collective agency. Nicola L. is recognized not only as a singular voice of the postwar avant-garde, but also as a visionary figure and a precursor to contemporary debates on the body, gender, and collective empowerment.

Biography: Nicola L. was born in 1932 in Mazagan, Morocco, as Nicole Jeannine Suzanne Leuthe, and passed away in 2018 in Los Angeles. She emerged on the Parisian art scene in the 1960s and was initially associated with Pop Art before quickly developing her own distinctive interdisciplinary practice. Her work encompasses sculpture, performance, painting, film, and design. Recurring themes include sexuality, activism, political resistance, ecology, cosmology, and spirituality. She is regarded as a visionary voice within the postwar avant-garde, whose influence continues to resonate in contemporary discussions of the body, gender, and performative art.

“Nicola L., When the Earth Turned the Other Way” – MHKA, Antwerp (Belgium) – June 25 to October 11, 2026 Address: Leuvenstraat 32, Antwerp (Belgium) More information: https://www.muhka.be/fr/exhibitions/nicola-l-the-same-skin-for-everyone/