pdf - ben van den berghe

Ben Van den Berghe
Portfolio October 2016
Projects
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Infinite Spin, 2015/16
Mad Methods, 2014
The Aloitador, 2013
Laughter Bank, 2013
Dr. Fritz, 2012
Selection of early works
curriculum vitae
bio
1.
Infinite Spin
year: 2015/16
In collaboration with Edi Danartono
Infinite Spin is a video, sound and performance installation that deals
with repetitive mechanisms. It explores ways to activate our reservoirs
of electrical energy through constant repetition of controlled bodily
movements: non-stop dancing and monotonous rhythms being one
of the oldest and most effective tools to reach an ecstatic state of
mind. For this project, the artist was triggered by dhikr ceremonies:
devotional Islamic acts in which Sufi dervishes of the Mevlevi Order
strive for spiritual enlightenment by uplifting and repetitive chants and
intense spiraling movements.
Installation view of the exhibition Infinite Spin at Studio MDM / CCA Warsaw, 2016
Flash, 2015
single channel video
05:46 min — loop
Installation view of the exhibition Infinite Spin with live performance by Orang Baru at Studio MDM / CCA Warsaw, 2016
Installation view of the exhibition Infinite Spin at Studio MDM / CCA Warsaw, 2016
Installation view of the exhibition Infinite Spin at Studio MDM / CCA Warsaw, 2016
Lady Glass & Operator (feat. Orang Baru), 2016
2-channel video, 3:00 min loop
soundtrack as 30:00 min loop or performed live
Installation view of the exhibition Infinite Spin at Studio MDM / CCA Warsaw, 2016
Installation view of the exhibition Infinite Spin with live performance by Orang Baru at Studio MDM / CCA Warsaw, 2016
Installation view of the exhibition Infinite Spin at Studio MDM / CCA Warsaw, 2016
2.
Mad Methods
year: 2014
In collaboration with Willem Badenhorst
Structured around a keen interest in method acting and the performer’s
capacity to ‘disappear’ in a role. With objects and materials found at
the exhibition site, including clay, cables, bottles and glass, the pair
embarked upon a series of exploratory and improvisational practice
sessions in the exhibition space. A glimpse of these occasions is visible
in the photographic works – Badenhorst with empty bottles taped to
his feet or with his head sticking out a hole in the floor, while Van den
Berghe directs his attention to a nearby laptop screen – yet they also
indicate a process of deliberate staging, of direction and simulation.
The installation, with its scattered miscellaneous objects and areas
of prior activity demarcated in masking tape, became the site for a
performance session during the opening of the show, with Badenhorst
dancing to music on headphones continuously for two hours, pushed
to exhaustion by the unheard directives of the soundtrack.
Live performance at the opening of the exhibition Grain, Wood, Flax, Turf in Voorkamer, Lier, 2014
Live performance at the opening of the exhibition
Grain, Wood, Flax, Turf in Voorkamer, Lier, 2014
Mad Methods (Interval), 2014
Installation view of Mad Methods at the exhibition Grain, Wood, Flax, Turf in Voorkamer, Lier, 2014
Mad Methods (Foley Artist), 2014
Mad Methods (Souffleur), 2014
3.
The Aloitador
year: 2013
A Rapa das Bestas is an annual event in Galicia, Spain. The ritual,
in which ‘Aloitadors’ master wild horses and cut off their manes,
exists for over more than 500 years and is taught from father to son.
Fascinated by a photo of a man bare-handedly wrestling with a wild
horse, the artist traveled to the small village of Sabucedo to witness
this age-old tradition. The road trip was motivated by a broader
interest in rituals of physical excess and transgression. The project
finally condensed into an installation of a photo and a video that
portray the same protagonist: an office clerk living in Madrid who
returns to his village every year to continue the tradition.
The portrait shows the Aloitador caught in a state of hyper focus
and momentariness, staring at the wild animals he is about to master.
In the video, he enters an undifferentiated, nervous mass of horses
time after time to single out one horse and pull it out of the frame,
where he performs an ancient ritual. Both works can be seen as
fictional self-portraits, representing the artist’s paradoxical desire to
be released: to enter a deep concentration and forget the world,
the Everything that surrounds you, to let go of control, to be
an animal…
Installation view of the exhibition Portrait of The Artist at Hisk in Ghent, Belgium 2013
The Aloitador, 2013
single channel video
1:05 min — loop
soundtrack by Valera Saenko
The Aloitador, 2013
Installation view of the exhibition Portrait of The Artist at Hisk in Ghent, Belgium 2013
The Aloitador, 2013
Hahnemuhle Baryta print
52 x 72 cm
4.
Laughter Bank
year: 2013
Clinical research has shown that it is less likely to succumb to stress, depression and
helplessness, when one is able to laugh away one’s troubles. In a time in which we – more
and more – seem to need artificial triggers for feelings that once were supposed to come
natural, ©Laughter Yoga was invented in 1995 by the Indian physician Dr. Madan Kataria
as a natural artificial trigger of laughter. Today, Laughter Yoga has become a worldwide
phenomenon with more than 6000 Social Laughter Clubs in about 60 countries. Highlighting
the contagiousness and physicality of laughter – and in some respects even turning it into a
commodity – it offers an ambiguous escape from a crisis of ‘naturalness’ that could very well
be considered a symptom of our secularised economic climate. At the same time it cannot be
denied that artificially provoked laughters offer participants a renewed sense of control over
their individual happiness and a way out of a personal or general sense of malaise.
First shown at the National Bank of the Netherlands in Amsterdam, the artist explicitly
addressed the relation between physical and material well-being, while recycling the ‘feelgood’-aesthetics of advertisement. The artist worked with two local Laughter Yoga tutors,
whose personal histories became an important part of the work. ‘Laughter Bank’ stages a
selection of 13 repetitive exercises in a different context. Whether presented in a bank or a
gallery, the project changes the perspective on Laughter Yoga without fully eliminating the
intended experience of a laughter session.
Laughing Sculptures during the opening of the exhibition Visa Bill Laughter
at de Nederlandsche Bank, Amsterdam,The Netherlands, 2013
Laughter Bank at Emely Projectspace, 2013
Laughter Bank at Emely Projectspace, 2013
II. NO MONEY Laughter
V. visa bill laughter (»Credit Card Laughter«)
VII. laughter cream (»Giggle Cream«/»Laughter Lotion«)
a)
b)
a)
b)
c)
d)
a)
b)
c)
Show empty pockets.
Laugh with palms up.
Hold your hands as if you’re going to open a visa bill.
Open your hands with palms towards you.
Laugh at what you see.
Share with others.
Squeeze a tube (or scoop out of a jar).
Apply to yourself (and others).
Laugh while rubbing it onto your body.
Laughter Bank, 2013
single channel video installation
33:03 min, HDV – color – stereo
Laughter Bank, 2013
single channel video installation
33:03 min, HDV – color – stereo
5.
Dr. Fritz
year: 2012
Dr. Fritz is a German neuroscientist who investigates the
contagiousness of emotions within artistic expression. Over the
past years, Dr. Fritz has been organizing ‘action experience spaces’:
installations that make certain associations between bodily actions
and perceptions tangible.
Intrigued by the idea that (scientific) research often derives from a
personal deficit, Van den Berghe portrays the scientist in his own
experiment: the technique of ‘Jymmin’ (a synthesis of ‘jammin’
and gym’). During such sessions, the participants train on fitness
appliances linked with a computer, thus generating electronic sounds
with every push or pull movement. In this way, the participants are
being stimulated to shift the limits of their bodily exhaustion by
means of music.
By inviting Dr. Fritz to be an object of his own experiments, the
artist inquires the ambiguous relationship between a creator and his
creation, the performer and the audience.
Installation view of the exhibition Dopplereffekt at Voorkamer, Lier, 2016
Dr. Fritz, 2012
single video installation
12:32 min
HDV – color – stereo
Dr. Fritz, 2012
single video installation
12:32 min, HDV – color – stereo
Selection of early works
Il Duomo, 2010
Handshake Society (rule of six), 2010
Stockholm Syndrome, 2009
Bühnen, 2008
Paul (The Universal Journalist), 2008
Everything’s Allright, 2007
Laborer on a Rooftop, 2006
Tu es mon roi, 2006
The Award, 2005
Il Duomo: a device, shaped as a perfect negative of the human mouth and nose cavity.
When thrown at a curve of sixtyfive degrees it results in fractured teeth and nasal bone, 2010
Hahnemuhle Baryta print, 30 x 35 cm
Handshake Society (rule of six), 2010
Installation view of Statics and the Movement in Between at
Frontviews Gallery, Berlin, Germany, 2010
PH (Perfect Handshake) = √ (e2 + ve2)(d2) + (cg +
dr)2 + π{(4<s>2)(4<p>2)}2 + (vi + t + te)2 + {(4<c>2 )
(4<du>2)}2
(e) is eye contact (1=none; 5=direct) 5; (ve) is verbal
greeting (1=totally inappropriate; 5=totally appropriate) 5; (d) is Duchenne smile - smiling in eyes and
mouth, plus symmetry on both sides of face, and slower offset (1=totally non-Duchenne smile (false smile); 5=totally Duchenne) 5; (cg) completeness of grip
(1=very incomplete; 5=full) 5; (dr) is dryness of hand
(1=damp; 5=dry) 4; (s) is strength (1= weak; 5=strong)
3; (p) is position of hand (1=back towards own body;
5=other person‘s bodily zone) 3; (vi) is vigour (1=too
low/too high; 5=mid) 3; (t) is temperature of hands
(1=too cold/too hot; 5=mid) 3; (te) is texture of hands
(5=mid; 1=too rough/too smooth) 3; (c) is control
(1=low; 5=high) 3; (du) is duration (1= brief; 5=long) 3.
PH-Formula (Handshake Society), 2010
stickers on wall, dimensions according to space
Stockholm Syndrome, 2009
Hahnemuhle Baryta print, variable sizes
Bühnen, 2008
Installation view of Rehearsal at Galerinon,
Istanbul, Turkey, 2011
Conference (Bühnen), 2008
Hahnemuhle Baryta print
35 x 48 cm
Aerial View (Bühnen), 2008
Hahnemuhle Baryta print
35 x 49,2 cm
Residence (Bühnen), 2008
Hahnemuhle Baryta print
35 x 51,2 cm
Sphere (Bühnen), 2008
Hahnemuhle Baryta print
35 x 52,5 cm
Stain (Bühnen), 2008
Hahnemuhle Baryta print
35 x 52,5 cm
Paul (The Universal Journalist), 2008
Hahnemuhle Baryta print
Laborer on a Rooftop, 2006
single channel video installation
02:02 min, loop, color, stereo
Tu es mon roi, 2006
single channel video installation
05:46 min, loop, color, stereo
The Award (Handshake Society), 2005
single channel video installation
04:05 min, loop – color – stereo
Curriculum Vitae – October 2016
Ben Van den Berghe
[email protected]
www.benvandenberghe.com
Education and Residencies
2016 CCA Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw, Poland
2015 Apartman Projesi, Istanbul, Turkey
2012 – 2014 HISK/Higher Institute for Fine Arts, Ghent, Belgium
2007 Visual Arts, Hochschule für Gestaltung Offenbach am Main, Germany
2004 – 2008 Master in Visual Arts, St. Lucas Antwerpen, Antwerp, Belgium
2003 – 2004 Cristobal Rojas Instituto, Caracas, Venezuela
Selected exhibitions
2017 The Plastic Number, KRIEG, Hasselt (upcoming solo)
2016 On Dedication, Corridor Project Space, Amsterdam
2016 Some lines from Tel Aviv, Tel Aviv
2016 Doppler Effect, Voorkamer, Lier
2016 The Moving Image, De Studio, Antwerp
2016 Infinite Spin, Studio MDM, Warsaw (duo with Edi Danartono)
2014 Exploring New Worlds, Ringling, Sarasota (USA)
2014 Grain, Wood, Flax, Turf, Voorkamer, Lier
2013 Laughter Bank, Emely Christiaens, Sint-Martens-Latem (solo)
2013 Portrait of the Artist, (curated by Katerina Gregos), Hisk, Ghent
2013 Hisk Bar, Art Brussels, Brussels
2013 Open Studios, HISK, Ghent
2013 Visa Bill Laughter, DNB, Amsterdam (solo)
2013 Body Light, Julia Stoschek Collection, Düsseldorf
2012 The Reality Of The Unbuilt, Raketenstation Hombroich (DE)
2012 Vom Photo, PhotoBiennale PhB, Thessaloniki (GR)
2012 Open Studios, Hisk/Higher Institute for Fine Arts, Ghent
2012 Hisk Bar, Artbrussels, Brussels
2012 In The Artists’ Absence, The Collective, Durban (SA)
2011 The Second Act, de Brakke Grond, Amsterdam
2011 Rehearsal, Galleri NON, Istanbul
2011 Vom Photo, Bundeskunsthalle Bonn, Bonn
2011 Finisterre – State of the Art, FotoMuseum, Antwerp
2010 Statics and Movement Inbetween, Frontviews gallery, Berlin
2010 Handshake Society, Mikro Projektraum, Düsseldorf (solo)
2010 Text Works, Bar Nadar Projectspace, Antwerp (solo)
2010 Jesters/Gestures, RHoK, Brussels
2009 Washed Ashore, International Photo Festival, Knokke (duo)
Publications
2016 Infinite Spin, published by CCA Warsaw
2015 The Institute, Hisk, Ghent
2014 Mad Methods, self published
2013 Portrait of the Artist, exhibition catalog
2013 Laughter Bank, artist booklet
2012 Open Studios, published by Hisk
2011 The Second Act exhibition catalog
2011 Vom Photo exhibition catalog, published by Walther König
2011 Finisterre, DW B magazine
2010 Handshake Society, published by Mikro Projektraum
2010 Extra5, Fotomuseum Antwerp – magazine
2010 Sugary Photographs exhibition catalog, published by Time to meet
2009 Dead Man Walking, DW B magazine
Initiated projects
2016 Nate Lights – Artist Editions, curated by Ben Van den Berghe
(www.nate-lights.com)
2013 Edi Winarni: Dorner/Lissitzky, curated by Ben Van den Berghe,
Sint Lucas, Antwerp (www.ediwinarni.de/dornerlissitzky-ii/)
2011 – 2013 Midnight Coffee Preview, a recurring one-night-only event
(www.midnightcoffeepreview.org)
2011 The Second Act – A Festival on Photography goes Live, De Brakke
Grond in Amsterdam (www.thesecondactfestival.com)
2010 Sugary Photographs with Tricks, Poses and Effects – A Festival on
Photography, 9 locations in Antwerp (www.sugaryphotographs.com)
2010 Potemkin Village, curated by Ben Van den Berghe, Novylon, Antwerp
2008 Nogallery and ConflictRoom, temporary projectspaces in Antwerp
(www.nogallery.be, www.conflictroom.org)
Other activities
2014 – 2016 co-founder of Nate Lights
2010 – 2016 co-founder of We Document Art
2009 – 2011 co-founder of Time to meet
2008 – 2012 photo assistance for Rinus Van de Velde
2008 – 2016 assistance for Geert Goiris
Bio
*1985 lives and works in Antwerp, Belgium
Over the last years Ben Van den Berghe has developed an artistic practice that originates from a strong
interest in the ways individuals and society at large give meaning and structure to life through
psychology, politics, religion, traditions... In his recent work – which consists of staged photos, videos
and performances – gaining or losing control over one’s mind and body is a recurring subject. The
artist has focused on a variety of themes such as the question of how physical sensations can be
articulated through music, the contagiousness of laughter, the human need for adrenaline, hyper-focus
or the madness in method acting.
The artist takes a critical stance within a documentary tradition using photography and text as an
important point of reference. The seemingly neutral and objective texts and titles that often accompany
the works add a scientific and subtly humorous layer to the works.
Van den Berghe’s practice does not only involve producing images, but also assembling and shaping
them into exhibitions, and more broadly, into an ever-evolving body of work. This also means that
there is a thin line between creating and curating. Having initiated several collaborative projects and
exhibition formats such as Conflictroom, Midnight Coffee Preview or the festival Sugary Photographs,
collaborations and the creation of experimental platforms became an essential part of his own work.
Together, these disparate, research-based projects form an encyclopedic and documentary practice that
deals with both the aesthetics and ethics of making artistic decisions and finding systems that
generate meaning.