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17/11/2007

Hans Op de Beeck

Xavier Hufkens, Bruxelles

The exhibition Extensions by visual artist Hans Op de Beeck will open in M/The Treasury of Saint Peter on 18 November. This is the third year in a row that M Leuven has invited a contemporary artist to exhibit in this location. After San Gimignano and Utrecht it is now Leuven’s turn to welcome Op de Beeck with work never shown before in Belgium and with his latest work.

For a number of years M has enhanced the link between old and new art in the city through all kinds of impulses. In the autumn of 2005 and 2006 Bernd Lohaus and Rui Chafes exhibited their work in the Treasury, the choir of the collegiate Saint Peter’s Church, where there is an alternating cooperation with national and international artists. Contemporary art in this space exposes our cultural heritage in a different way. The artists endeavour to interact with the space and establish a dialogue in which both worlds, i.e. contemporary art and historic heritage, participate on an equal footing. The historic buildings and objects are visualised in a personal manner and are integrated in the work of contemporary artists.

In 2004 the museum already cooperated with Hans Op de Beeck for a contribution to the book Eerste beweging: steigerschrift. Following this positive experience M aimed to extend this cooperation to an exhibition of new work inspired by the Treasury of Saint Peter. Extensions already took shape at the solo exhibition of the same name in Galleria Continua in San Gimignano and in the Central Museum in Utrecht, however, it was adapted and enriched with new work for the exhibition in the Treasury. The Leuven exhibition thus acquired its own identity.

Hans Op de Beeck (°1969, Turnhout) mainly works around man’s detachment and loss of self-identity in this (post)modern period. Subjects like desolate metropolitanization, endless motorways, abandoned night transport cafes, the amusement industry, etc, are typical of his work. In this respect Extensions again offers new elements to query our time. The exhibition focuses on our contemporary rationalised society and on the gap between body and mind which seems to be widening. ‘When does the body control the extensions and when do the extensions control the body?

The autonomy of our own actions becomes diffuse’. He discusses the relationship between body, mind and extensions in contemporary Western society. Hans Op de Beeck’s imagery is quiet and reserved. At times in a serious then again in an ironic manner he puts questions that remain unanswered. He does not condemn. There is a problematic relationship between body, thought, technology and large architectural spaces that lead to emptiness, suffering and mediocrity while simultaneously producing a kind of beauty and liberation. This relationship is at the centre of his work.

The Extensions will be published to mark the exhibition. This publication includes amongst other a new short story by the artist entitled Kuuroord.
The exhibition will be accompanied by a lecture in STUK Kunstencentrum in which Hans Op de Beeck situates his multidisciplinary oeuvre and sketches the background to his new works.

The exhibition has also been included in the cultural and educational project Muse als Motor (Muse as a driving force) that is targeted at the second year of secondary education and aims to expand the cultural horizon of young people. Young people will be brought to the exhibition where they will be introduced to the works of art in an open and non-scholastic atmosphere and in a creative manner. The young producer Cecilia Verheyden visited Hans Op de Beeck and made a visual portrait of the artist. A great chat, alternating with pictures of the exhibition.

Press conference
Sunday 18 November 2007 at 2 p.m. in M/The Treasury of Saint Peter in the presence of the artist.

Publication
Extensions, Hatje Cantz Verlag, 112 pages full-color, English/Dutch, ISBN 978-3-7757-2096-0, € 35

Lecture
Wednesday 12 December 2007 at 8 p.m. in the auditorium, STUK Kunstencentrum, Naamsestraat 96 Leuven.

Contact persons
Lore Van Hees
Contemporary art M Leuven
Willemsstraat 7
3000 Leuven
Tel. 016 22 69 06
Fax 016 23 89 30
GSM 0499 677 614
lore.vanhees@leuven.be

Denise Vandevoort
Alderman of Culture
Muntstraat 3
3000 Leuven
Tel. 016 21 17 40
denise.vandevoort@leuven.be

Extensions in M/The Treasury of Saint Peter
18 November 2007 through 20 January 2008.

M/The Treasury of Saint Peter
Grote Markt, Leuven.
Opening hours:
Tuesday to Friday: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Saturday: 10 a.m. to 4.30 p.m.
Sunday and Public Holidays: 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Admission: 2.5 Euro (1.25 Euro for people entitled to a discount)

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