01.06 - 06.07.2025
Various Artists
"SCHÄL SICK"01.06 - 06.07.2025
Various Artists
"SCHÄL SICK"



SCHÄL SICK

Artists: Various
Exposition: June 1st - July 6 2025
Vitrines Galerie Le Bailli
Av. Louise 195, 1050 Brussels, Belgium




The Cologne german dialect term « SCHÄL SICK » for the right bank of the Rhine – where "schäl" means blinking or squinting and "sick" translates to riverbank – historically labeled the opposite shore of the roman city as the domain of uncultured barbarians, provincials, and outsiders.The term’s controversial etymology derives from the Cologne word "schäle" (blinking/squinting). One theory suggests that during the pre- steamship era, horses towing barges (Treidelschiffe) – dazzled by sun reflecting off the water – could only glimpse the opposite bank through squinted eyes ("schäle"). Blinkers allegedly prevented full vision of the shore, though this explanation remains disputed due to lack of evidence about equine light sensitivity and the bilateral nature of such glare. Historically, the term reflects an Early Medieval religious divide: Romans colonized only the left bank as their imperial border, while the right bank remained pagan Germanic territory beyond the limes frontier. Christians thus viewed right-bank inhabitants as worshippers of the one-eyed Odin (Wodan) – a god perceived as sly, deceitful, and unpredictable. The "Schäl Sick" thus embodies the shore where "barbarians" venerated this "squinting Wodan," transforming a local toponym into a timeless metaphor for alterity. The title transcends its local origins to address a universal human phenomenon: the designation of the Other. When perceived as non- identical and threatening to systemic stability, such otherness can fuel perpetual conflicts and struggles. The exhibition presents works with the capacitiy to embody this theme of Schäl Sick/ the Other. Artists as explorer of new shores, intrinsically carry the burden of otherness, while artworks serve as its living testimonies. Artworks dwell out of an energy that is directed towards spiritual inclusion. They fuse the realms and shadows of the opposites. Heidegger worked towards the preparation for the jump into this question of Seyn, where the Machenschaften (machinations) of societey are dissolved into an elightend state, a dream Friedrich Schiller already conceptualised in his aesthetic writings. The Artwork thus opens virgin spaces for the overcoming of conflict by breaking through individual and social dogmas towards a potential unifying moment. Through time it transforms from the alien to the universally known and becomes both symbol of crisis transformation and hope. Featured pieces include both living and deceased artists: a mask (collective unconscious), a painting of a pagan head (spirituality), an 1842 ink drawing of a human gathering (social systems), an oil sketch of a landscape with tree and river (nature, unknown), an oil drawing on bubble wrap depicting a being with a device (humanity, technology), and an abstract acrylic on cardboard depicting a shattered vase fragment (cultural history, memory, disruption). The historic "Brückenmännchen", a statue on a bridge on the left bank of the Rhine points his bottom in direction of the Schäl Sick.