Staging Silence II
(Rotterdam / Veerlaan 13, Katendrecht, Fenixloods 1 – first floor)
Hans Op de Beeck’s (1969, Belgium) imagery is quiet and reflective and takes up existential issues in a serious yet ironical way. Op de Beeck does not provide answers. The questions remain, like confusing afterthoughts. A principal theme is his work is man’s relation to space, to time and to his fellow man. Op de Beeck unravels the themes in the setting of the modern metropolis. Staging Silence II also shows this setting albeit in the form of staged decors that invite the viewer to play a role. Two hands put model-like building blocks onto a neutral-looking table. In the background one can see a strip of paper. The pieces are used to make models of indoor spaces and landscapes that are familiar yet anonymous. The ‘passive’ decors are de-installed and replaced by new backgrounds, vaguely familiar public spaces that are venues of possible narratives. In an interview Op de Beeck has claimed that his work helps him deal with the melancholy and absurdity of existence. We do not always succeed to bend things to our will and we sometimes we find ourselves in impersonal no man’s land.