Hans Op de Beeck
29 Mar - 20 May 2012
© Hans Op de Beeck
Sea of Tranquillity, 2010,
Courtesy Galleria Continua, San Gimignano / Beijing / Le Moulin; Xavier Hufkens, Brussels;
Galerie Ron Mandos, Rotterdam – Amsterdam
Coproduced by the National Centre for Visual Arts - Ministry of Culture and Communication (FR), the Flanders Audiovisual Fund (BE), Emmanuelle and Michael Guttman and Le Fresnoy - National Studio of Contemporary Arts
Sea of Tranquillity, 2010,
Courtesy Galleria Continua, San Gimignano / Beijing / Le Moulin; Xavier Hufkens, Brussels;
Galerie Ron Mandos, Rotterdam – Amsterdam
Coproduced by the National Centre for Visual Arts - Ministry of Culture and Communication (FR), the Flanders Audiovisual Fund (BE), Emmanuelle and Michael Guttman and Le Fresnoy - National Studio of Contemporary Arts
HANS OP DE BEECK
Sea of Tranquillity
invited by Ruxandra Balaci
29 March - 20 May 2012
Sea of Tranquillity
Video | Video Full HD | color | 29’50” | Belgia | 2010
“Sea of Tranquillity” is the name of a film, a traveling exhibition, a jazz song and afictional cruise liner created by the artist. The ship serves as a metaphor for our modern attitude to time and space, our interpretation of the concepts of work and leisure, and, finally, the way in which we deal with our mortality. As such, it has a complex and poetic charge, but also presents a touch of irony regarding the superficial, safe and unimaginative leisure opportunities that are on offer on board the ship. The medium length film, mixing live actors and 3D environments, virtually plunges the viewer into the cavernous, strange and menacing fictional cruise liner as it softly cleaves the night.
Hans Op de Beeck (in an interview with Emmanuelle Lequeux, 2010):
“(...) Nowadays the cruise ship is a floating shopping and leisure mall, a gated community, that seems far removed from what travel should be all about: being mentally in transit and experiencing the natural environment. Quite often the construction of a cruise ship is accompanied by problems caused by the economic reality of short-term work contracts. The complex network of subcontractors and migrant workers has often led to serious conflicts with small businesses and workers, who are often paid too little, too late or not at all, and have to contend with harsh terms of employment or work in difficult conditions. Despite the current worldwide economic slump, there is still an incredible demand for such mega-sized luxury ships. People who sign up for a cruise of several weeks from, say, Europe to the States, can while away their time experiencing the ultimate in consumption in a completely tame and risk-free floating
land of plenty. The staggering size of such a ship, with over a thousand crew members, means that thousands of passengers are let loose around the clock upon casinos, cinemas, swimming pools, spas, temples to cosmetics, clothes stores, luxury shops and other facilities. The fact that ships such as the “Queen Mary 2”, even before entering into service, were already being touted as a ‘legend’, says it all. Only with time, probably decades, can things prove themselves to be legends. It is, of course, rather peculiar for something with no history to be instantly referred to as a legend. Categories we employ today, such as ‘the biggest’ or ‘the tallest’ are superficial and tacky. They say nothing about the quality of the object. Yet, we have a passionate desire for such larger-than-life objects, because they appeal to our imagination and create myths, so transcending the mundane. At the same time, they also serve as evidence
of the crushing insignificance of the individual (...)”
Multi-disciplinary artist Hans Op de Beeck (B) creates interworlds. Suspended between past and future, fiction and reality, his works sound out a mirage-like contemporary universe and a sensory vertigo where the familiar rubs shoulders with the strange. From installation to sculpture, from video to animated film, from short stories to painting and drawing, from photography to sound material, the media he employs seem to converge on the definition of a topos: a mental theatre that projects the viewer into a reflexive social and cultural experience, the intimate thinking of the human condition. — Eva Prouteau
Sea of Tranquillity
invited by Ruxandra Balaci
29 March - 20 May 2012
Sea of Tranquillity
Video | Video Full HD | color | 29’50” | Belgia | 2010
“Sea of Tranquillity” is the name of a film, a traveling exhibition, a jazz song and afictional cruise liner created by the artist. The ship serves as a metaphor for our modern attitude to time and space, our interpretation of the concepts of work and leisure, and, finally, the way in which we deal with our mortality. As such, it has a complex and poetic charge, but also presents a touch of irony regarding the superficial, safe and unimaginative leisure opportunities that are on offer on board the ship. The medium length film, mixing live actors and 3D environments, virtually plunges the viewer into the cavernous, strange and menacing fictional cruise liner as it softly cleaves the night.
Hans Op de Beeck (in an interview with Emmanuelle Lequeux, 2010):
“(...) Nowadays the cruise ship is a floating shopping and leisure mall, a gated community, that seems far removed from what travel should be all about: being mentally in transit and experiencing the natural environment. Quite often the construction of a cruise ship is accompanied by problems caused by the economic reality of short-term work contracts. The complex network of subcontractors and migrant workers has often led to serious conflicts with small businesses and workers, who are often paid too little, too late or not at all, and have to contend with harsh terms of employment or work in difficult conditions. Despite the current worldwide economic slump, there is still an incredible demand for such mega-sized luxury ships. People who sign up for a cruise of several weeks from, say, Europe to the States, can while away their time experiencing the ultimate in consumption in a completely tame and risk-free floating
land of plenty. The staggering size of such a ship, with over a thousand crew members, means that thousands of passengers are let loose around the clock upon casinos, cinemas, swimming pools, spas, temples to cosmetics, clothes stores, luxury shops and other facilities. The fact that ships such as the “Queen Mary 2”, even before entering into service, were already being touted as a ‘legend’, says it all. Only with time, probably decades, can things prove themselves to be legends. It is, of course, rather peculiar for something with no history to be instantly referred to as a legend. Categories we employ today, such as ‘the biggest’ or ‘the tallest’ are superficial and tacky. They say nothing about the quality of the object. Yet, we have a passionate desire for such larger-than-life objects, because they appeal to our imagination and create myths, so transcending the mundane. At the same time, they also serve as evidence
of the crushing insignificance of the individual (...)”
Multi-disciplinary artist Hans Op de Beeck (B) creates interworlds. Suspended between past and future, fiction and reality, his works sound out a mirage-like contemporary universe and a sensory vertigo where the familiar rubs shoulders with the strange. From installation to sculpture, from video to animated film, from short stories to painting and drawing, from photography to sound material, the media he employs seem to converge on the definition of a topos: a mental theatre that projects the viewer into a reflexive social and cultural experience, the intimate thinking of the human condition. — Eva Prouteau