A tiny four-centimeter cube sits alone in the middle of a massive 1,000-square-meter gallery space, representing what may be the most impressive artwork currently on display in Brussels. Chilean artist Alfredo Jaar's "La Fin du monde" (The End of the World) is now on exhibition at the Patinoire Royale Bach gallery, occupying the center of the enormous former ice rink with nothing but dramatic red lighting for company.
The diminutive sculpture represents five years of intensive work by Jaar, who was born in 1956. The artist invested extraordinary amounts of time, money, sweat, and energy to source each of the ten materials that make up the final piece. Despite its minuscule size, the work delivers a powerful message about the current state of our planet and the forces driving its destruction.
To explain the genesis of his work, Jaar receives visitors in the gallery office and delivers a precisely timed ten-minute presentation aided by PowerPoint slides. Calm and focused, he launches into a mini-lecture illustrated with press articles and various archives, focusing on the ten most precious minerals in the world: cobalt, rare earths, copper, tin, nickel, lithium, manganese, coltan, germanium, and platinum. All of these materials are essential to the global economy, as they are used in the manufacture of computers, smartphones, and electric vehicles.
The Chilean artist quickly establishes his thesis: these minerals are at the heart of extraordinarily complex exchanges involving all countries of the world and particularly alarming major powers including China, the United States, and Europe. Their exploitation has caused and will continue to cause ecological disasters as well as commercial and military wars, and has already begun to significantly disrupt the world order in various African countries, Ukraine, and Greenland. In short, they are the source of what Jaar calls "the lamentable state of our planet."
In the immense gallery space, this tiny object appears for what it truly represents: a concentrate of what will cause our ruin. These very minerals are found in fine layers, stacked within the small four-centimeter-high cube. The sculpture weighs fourteen kilograms despite its compact size, anchoring it firmly in the world from which it emerges.
After the presentation—the public can watch an introductory video covering the same elements before entering the main gallery room—visitors arrive before the sculpture haunted by this information. The format of the introduction itself, concise and synthetic, summarizing in just a few minutes a crucial phenomenon in the history of the neoliberal world, creates the impression of a shot of strong alcohol that opens the mind and destabilizes like a slap to the face.
Jaar describes himself as a "frustrated journalist" and wanted to create a work that informs and awakens. Trained as an architect, he explains that he cannot conceive of a work outside its context of production. For this piece, he collaborated with political geologist Adam Bobette to ensure the accuracy of his environmental and political analysis.
Regarding his choice to present a minuscule work in an oversized space illuminated with powerful red lighting—a technique he previously employed in Berlin in 2024—Jaar explains: "I decided not to accept the tyranny of this space, of this vast volume, and to take a contradictory position. I chose to show the smallest possible object, hoping that the void would give weight to this object, restore its gravity."
The artist elaborates on his color choice, saying, "The void, the silence, the red light... Why red? Red is the color of life, of blood. It's the color of love, but also of an alarm signal, of a stop sign—the love we should have for the planet, and the injunction to stop hurting it with our behavior." The phenomenal contrast gives the work a power that viewers are unlikely to forget.
The exhibition "Alfredo Jaar. La fin du monde" runs from September 4, 2025, through December 23, 2025, at La Patinoire Royale/Galerie Valérie Bach, located at 15 Rue Veydt in Brussels. The gallery's website provides additional information about the exhibition and visiting hours.
