In the installation, Circular Ruins (2019), Fion Tan plays on the former use of Le Grand-Hornu as a coal mine, when miners’ clothes would be hung up on cable pulleys both before and after work. In a similar fashion, Tan has suspended a number of large concentric circles that reference the building’s circular design, from which hang loose cords. A series of knots in each cord refer to the cord alphabet of the ancient Incas, while an excerpt can be heard from the short story “The Circular Ruins” by Jorge Luís Borges.

Circular Ruins was part of Fiona Tan’s first solo exhibition in Belgium, Shadow Archive, at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MAC’s) in Le Grand-Hornu 2019.
Circular Ruins 
Mixed media installation 2019
All works courtesy the artist Fiona Tan and Frith Street Gallery London

Year: 2019
Runtime: From 07 April to 01 September 2019
Artist: Fiona Tan
Ropes and Production: Marieke van den Bosch
Production assistant: Pernilla Philip
Hanging Construction: Thijs Beukers
Production Company: Halal
Producer: Lieve de Blok