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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

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