EXHIBITIONS
Artwork Thinker in All States by Willy Van Den Dorpe, submitted by Niklaas Van den Abeele (Culture Department of the VUB)
The Thinker in All States adorns one of the many pathways on the Oefenplein campus of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB). It is a work of art that represents the VUB alumnus and was commissioned for the celebration of 150 years of Flemish students in Brussels and 50 years of the VUB alumni association. The sculpture, designed by the post-modern artist Willy Van Den Dorpe, is an adaptation of another thinker, namely Rodin’s well-known statue. The thinking figure is depicted with a wind vane on his head and outlines the artist’s criticism of the possible manipulations of rational thinking.
“By crowning Rodin’s Thinker with a wind vane, Van Den Dorpe criticises the possible manipulations of rational thinking. His criticism fits in with free research and the need to constantly question everything. It is only by constantly questioning the fixed values that these values can be kept alive. This is the task of the artist, as well as that of the free investigative scientist.”1
The small version - the Little Thinker - was first donated to Nobel Prize winner François Englert (ULB) and is for sale through the Culture Department of the VUB.
1 ELIAS (Willem), s.d., www.standbeelden.be/standbeeld/2809 (accessed on 29 January 2018).