Next Spring the former summer residence of the aristocratic d’Ursel family will be the setting for an unusual exhibition. SWEET 18 will show you the 18th century through the eyes of fifty contemporary designers, artists and fashion designers: from Erwin Olaf and Wim Delvoye to Walter van Beirendonck and Philippe Starck.

We all have somewhere in our minds the same images of the 18th century. Wigs and hooped petticoats. Towering hairstyles and elegant furniture. Fine porcelain on lavishly decked tables. Sensual portraits and frivolous paintings. The 18th century was the time of the Enlightenment and of the flowering of the arts and sciences. But it also created a playful, artificial world for aristocrats wanting to escape reality and immerse themselves in fantasy. A charmed world of pleasure, abundance and voluptuousness, of pastel tints and curlicues, a world which inspires many an artist to this day. Spreading themselves over all three floors of the castle these artists will show you the 18th century as you have never seen it before.

SWEET 18 has been brought together by the following team of curators: Luisa Bernal (art), Dieter Van Den Storm (design), Wim Mertens (fashion) and Hélène Bremer (art).

Ode to Marie Antoinette

Whether it be for her extravagant lifestyle, influential fashion sense or her tragic death, French Queen Marie-Antoinette still speaks to our imagination. Director Sofia Coppola’s film spearheaded the revival. Charlotte De Cock’s painting perfectly match the theme and for pop stars like Madonna and Beyoncé she is also a powerful icon. German illustrator Olaf Hajek gives his own take on her in the Black Antoinette series while top Dutch photographer Erwin Olaf offers up a gory portrait of the queen: beheaded.

Exuberant fashion

The extravagant wardrobe of Marie-Antoinette is the springboard for many a contemporary fashion designer: from the minimalism of Japanese Yohji Yamamoto and eccentricity of German Bernhard Willhelm to French fashion houses Nina Ricci and Thierry Mugler. English milliner Stephen Jones is inspired by her to create his evocative hats. The outsized dresses, tight corsets and tailored jackets of Belgian designers Walter Van Beirendonck and Olivier Theyskens also sample the 18th century.

Transparent plastic in burnt wood

Dutch designer Hella Jongerius immersed herself in the archives of the German porcelain manufactory Nymphenberg to come up with plates which combine hand-painted patterns and little sculptured animals, all done in 18th century style.

Designer Maarten Baas literally set fire to a number of antique chairs before reworking them in lacquer. His Smoke Chair has become a classic. Even more famous is French star designer Philippe Starck’s Ghost Chair, which references a Louis XV chair in a pared-down, transparent design.

Spanish designer Jaime Hayon’s lounge chair and an outlandish seat by British designer Nina Saunders also find a home in the exhibition. One absolute high point is L’ornement jamais by Swiss designer Philippe Cramer, an outstanding piece of pine furniture executed in 18th century style and partially dipped in liquid gold.

Deformed status symbols

The fine china of Meissen, Sèvres and Wedgwood remains to this day an inexhaustible source of inspiration. The sculptural groups of American artist Chris Antemann may look like replicas, but reveal themselves on closer inspection to be rather wicked tableaux, full of forbidden fruit.

British artists Jessica Harrison and Claire Partington make superficially sweet female figurines that are actually hideously mutilated, with their deformed heads and coloured tattoos.

With War and Pieces Dutch ceramicist Bouke de Vries offers a modern interpretation of the extravagant banquets that were thrown the night before a battle.

British artist Amy Hughes’s Trésor découvert suggests treasure that has been lying buried for centuries under that same battlefield; treasure that has lost its gleam but has a story of the past and its rediscovery to tell. Italian artist Paolo Polloniato sources antique moulds and decorates his best finds with architectural images of 21st century buildings.

Fêtes galantes

In Stavronikita Project Austrian photographer Andreas Franke recreates 18th century festivities. By situating them in the unusual setting of a sunken ship he emphasises the beauty that underlies decadence and decline.

The tableaux of Canadian artist Ray Caesar border on the surreal, while the work of English painter Patrick Hughes plays games with the laws of perspective.

Pastoral scenes

Nothing is more typical of the 18th century domestic interior than ‘toile de Jouy’, cotton wallcoverings depicting scenes of rural life. American artist Richard Saja pimps its little cowherds into clowns or punks, while the French Collectif Ensaders transforms them into figures of fantasy and Virginie Broquet gives them an erotic spin.

Lavish finery

British artist Jo Taylor translates the extravagant stucco ornament of the grand 18th century house into three-dimensional porcelain objects. Taking as her inspiration the bizarre wigs of the French court, English artist Kathy Dalwood turns casts of utilitarian objects into plaster portrait busts. Japanese artist Kimiko Yoshida does self-portraits based on iconic portrait busts. So she is Marie-Antoinette as a flaming red geisha girl and she is Louis XIV as a neon yellow man/woman cross.

American photographer Cindy Sherman designed a soup tureen with Madame de Pompadour as inspiration. And the controversial figure of King Gustav III of Sweden is the starting point for Yinka Shonibare’s (UK/ Nigeria) film Un ballo in Maschera.

Made in Belgium

Belgian artists easily hold their own amongst all these international heavyweights. Isabelle Copet lays a gigantic lace collar in the pool behind the castle. In the park Michaël Aerts places an inverted statue of Louis XIV on a pedestal made of flight cases and builds a seven metre high obelisk from the same black cases.

Two twisted sculptures by Wim Delvoye overlook the entrance hall. Zaza contributes a print. In the mirrored room Bart Ramakers has filmed a richly imaginative ballet on the theme of romantic love. Painter Jan Devliegher exhibits gigantic porcelain plates and Nick Ervinck has printed two stunningly designed vases in 3D.

A design for a bedroom by architect Koen Deprez combines classic panelling and Fragonard paintings with Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey.

For more information visit: www.kasteeldursel.be