The Gathering Of Characters And Forms — The Final Chapter

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The final chapter of the exhibition cluster The Gathering Of Characters And Forms is a happy reunion of Alice De Mont, Benjamin Verhoeven and Hans Demeulenaere. This time Joachim Coucke, curator of the previous chapters, joins them. The artists continue their investigations of two, at first glance seemingly very different media, namely video and sculpture. In The Gathering Of Characters And Forms. The Final Chapter the properties of these media, previously conceived by art history as utterly opposed and eternally irreconcilable, once again challenge each other: intangibility, motility and temporality on the one hand, solidity and staticity on the other, they meet, intertwine and give rise to new opportunities.

For example, after examining the various possible forms starting from the same premise (i.e. geometric and organic forms combined in a plaster object), Alice adds time and movement. Forms become characters in a performance in which the sculpture gets moved and removed. Joachim also accounts for time and movement: a form frequently returning in his artistic practice, the black attendance board, is spinning around its axis. Over time and with every single rotation a new line of text appears. Thus the board becomes a character in a 3D animation. And Hans, he examines the pedestal, the supporting base of the sculpture that makes an already static form even more immobile. However, the pedestal, and thus form and staticity, is questioned by the banality of the object on top of it. Hans’ ‘form’ is faced by Benjamins sculpture: a seemingly heavy bin that is suddenly put into movement: a scan tears through the surface. Moving images are placed into the 3-dimensional visualization of sculpture.

After a few appearances in alternative, non-commercial art spaces such as the in-between space of DASH in Kortrijk and the Van Nellefabriek at Intersections Art Rotterdam, the gathering now takes place in the inviting white space and adjoint wooden box of Hopstreet Gallery. This commercial presentation space hinting of a white cube challenges the artists even more and helps them to get out of their comfort zone. In a way the gathering of characters and forms is put into a whole new perspective.