Staging Silence
'Staging Silence' is based on abstract, archetypal settings that lingered in the memory of the artist as the common denominator of the many similar public places he has experienced. The presented video images are both ridiculous and serious, much like the eclectic mix of pictures in our minds. The decision to film in black and white emphasises this ambiguity: the amateurish quality of the video evokes the legacy of slapstick as well as the insidious suspense and latent derailment of the film noir. The title refers to the staging of such dormant decors onto which the spectator, in the absence of other figures, can project himself as the lone protagonist.
Remembered images are disproportionate mixtures of concrete information and fantasy, and in this film they materialise before the spectator's eyes by means of anonymous tinkering actions and improvising hands. Arms appear and disappear at random, manipulating banal objects, scale representations and artificial lighting to create alienating yet recognizable locations. These places are nothing more than animated decors for possible stories, evocative visual propositions, to be experienced by the spectator. The film is accompanied by a score inspired by the images, composed and performed by composer-musician Serge Lacroix.
Staging Silence (2)
The presence of the theatre is directly invoked in the work 'Staging Silence (2)'. Shown as a 'black box' video installation, the monochrome footage depicts a small stage on which scenarios involving everyday household objects, foodstuffs and constructions are played out to a soundtrack by the Ambient composer Scanner. Hands appear in the margins of the screen, in the manner of a shadow play or puppet-show, to roll out the landscape like a carpet; water is poured and becomes a shimmering sea, whose gentle waves are raised with long black sticks. An island is fashioned in its midst, made from half-peeled potatoes and a bonsai tree, whilst a boat is fastened to a pontoon. We can observe every gesture, and each subterfuge is revealed as the scenes unfold. The more the artist reveals his sleight-of-hand, his artifice, the further it chimes with our imagination, and the more we are willing to suspend our disbelief, the most fundamental aspect that defines narrative. It challenges our predilection for present-day spectacles boasting seamless special effects, in which artifice and reality are indistinguishable.
In the final sequence, a vast city emerges, built painstakingly from stacked cubes of sugar. Then, black rain falls, administered by watering cans, which coats the buildings in their entirety and causes them to saturate and slowly melt and crumble into ruins.
The artist is cast in the role of omnipotent world-maker, though we are always aware of the Lilliputian dimensions of his creations, bestowing an air of charm and modesty to his magic box theatre.
Staging Silence (3)
‘Staging Silence (3)’ is the third and final installment in a series of autonomous art films, all realised according to the same principles. In the three films, two pairs of anonymous hands construct and deconstruct fictional interiors and landscapes on a mini film set of just three square meters in size.
This film takes the viewer on a visual journey through depopulated, enigmatic and often melancholic, but nonetheless playful, small-scaled places, which are built up and taken down before the eye of the camera.
The two pairs of anonymous hands, like a double Deus ex Machina of sorts, decide on the life and death, growth and blossoming or decay of the places that are conjured up. The landscapes and interiors are teaming with cultural and subcultural references, including historical as well as current themes that refer to the way in which man - both in his dealings with architecture and with nature — 'humanises' the open space in an attempt to create meaning, identity and a logical interaction with time. For the first time in the series, this film also includes clear references to the life-size sculptures and immersive installations of Op de Beeck’s oeuvre.
https://hansopdebeeck.com/works
Remembered images are disproportionate mixtures of concrete information and fantasy, and in this film they materialise before the spectator's eyes by means of anonymous tinkering actions and improvising hands. Arms appear and disappear at random, manipulating banal objects, scale representations and artificial lighting to create alienating yet recognizable locations. These places are nothing more than animated decors for possible stories, evocative visual propositions, to be experienced by the spectator. The film is accompanied by a score inspired by the images, composed and performed by composer-musician Serge Lacroix.
Staging Silence (2)
The presence of the theatre is directly invoked in the work 'Staging Silence (2)'. Shown as a 'black box' video installation, the monochrome footage depicts a small stage on which scenarios involving everyday household objects, foodstuffs and constructions are played out to a soundtrack by the Ambient composer Scanner. Hands appear in the margins of the screen, in the manner of a shadow play or puppet-show, to roll out the landscape like a carpet; water is poured and becomes a shimmering sea, whose gentle waves are raised with long black sticks. An island is fashioned in its midst, made from half-peeled potatoes and a bonsai tree, whilst a boat is fastened to a pontoon. We can observe every gesture, and each subterfuge is revealed as the scenes unfold. The more the artist reveals his sleight-of-hand, his artifice, the further it chimes with our imagination, and the more we are willing to suspend our disbelief, the most fundamental aspect that defines narrative. It challenges our predilection for present-day spectacles boasting seamless special effects, in which artifice and reality are indistinguishable.
In the final sequence, a vast city emerges, built painstakingly from stacked cubes of sugar. Then, black rain falls, administered by watering cans, which coats the buildings in their entirety and causes them to saturate and slowly melt and crumble into ruins.
The artist is cast in the role of omnipotent world-maker, though we are always aware of the Lilliputian dimensions of his creations, bestowing an air of charm and modesty to his magic box theatre.
Staging Silence (3)
‘Staging Silence (3)’ is the third and final installment in a series of autonomous art films, all realised according to the same principles. In the three films, two pairs of anonymous hands construct and deconstruct fictional interiors and landscapes on a mini film set of just three square meters in size.
This film takes the viewer on a visual journey through depopulated, enigmatic and often melancholic, but nonetheless playful, small-scaled places, which are built up and taken down before the eye of the camera.
The two pairs of anonymous hands, like a double Deus ex Machina of sorts, decide on the life and death, growth and blossoming or decay of the places that are conjured up. The landscapes and interiors are teaming with cultural and subcultural references, including historical as well as current themes that refer to the way in which man - both in his dealings with architecture and with nature — 'humanises' the open space in an attempt to create meaning, identity and a logical interaction with time. For the first time in the series, this film also includes clear references to the life-size sculptures and immersive installations of Op de Beeck’s oeuvre.
https://hansopdebeeck.com/works
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