MEDIA DIGITAL ART AND CULTURE IN FLANDERS BELGIUM - BAM
MEDIA DIGITAL ART AND CULTURE IN FLANDERS BELGIUM - BAM
MEDIA DIGITAL ART AND CULTURE IN FLANDERS BELGIUM - BAM
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V I N C E N T M E E S S E N<br />
º 1 9 7 1 , B A LT I M O R E ( U S A )<br />
A Alsembergsesteenweg<br />
820 B, 1 180 Brussels<br />
T +32 (0)2 378 21 88<br />
E vincent@normal.be<br />
W normal.be<br />
“Transform documents into experiences and vice<br />
versa”. This phrase by Aby Warburg could definitely<br />
be used to introduce Vincent Meessen’s speculative<br />
realism, or as he calls it: ‘documents d’expérience’.<br />
His archival investigations always lead to loose<br />
associations and appropriative gestures that are<br />
rewritten into critical narratives. In his latest modular<br />
installations he combines films with printed matter and sculptures.<br />
Meessen produces narratives that question our ability to deal with the colonial<br />
ghosts of modernity. In his recent Vita Nova, he makes use of the filmic essay<br />
to re-read Roland Barthes in various postcolonial African situations, applying<br />
Barthes’s deconstruction tools to some of his famous texts. Vincent Meessen likes<br />
to use procedures of collaboration that undermine the authority of the author and<br />
emphasize the intelligence of collectives and of conceptual characters.<br />
Recent shows include ARS 11, Kiasma Museum (Helsinki), Stedelijk<br />
Museum Bureau (Amsterdam) and Contour Biennial for Moving Images (Mechelen).<br />
He worked together with the collective Potential Estate for the Brussels Biennial and<br />
M HKA (Antwerp). His filmworks were screened at Jeu de Paume, at Cinémathèque<br />
française (Paris), at Museo Reina Sofia (Madrid), at the Swiss Institute (NY) and at<br />
international festivals such as IDFA (Amsterdam), IFFR (Rotterdam), Cinéma du Réel<br />
(Paris) and Transmediale (Berlin). His films are distributed by Argos center for art<br />
& media (Brussels) (see also section on Art Organisations). Meessen has curated<br />
several film programs and exhibitions for various institutions including Extra City<br />
(Antwerp), Argos (Brussels), C.E.A.C (Xiamen, CH), E.R.B.A (Valence, F).<br />
6 2<br />
Vita Nova (2009)<br />
Exhibition view Contour Bienale for Moving<br />
Images © Courtesy Normal