“SLOW DISSOLVE” by Geert Goris

Opening on Wednesday November 11, 6:30pm
Exhibition until December 19

GEERT GOIRIS

Born in Belgium in 1971, Geert Goiris lives and works in Anvers. He has given solo exhibitions in places such as the FOAM in Amsterdam (2015), the Hamburger Kunsthalle (2010) and Art Basel Statements (2009). His work is present in many collections across the world: in the Seattle Art Museum, the Musée de la photographie in Anvers and the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, to name but a few. In 2008, he won the Vevey International Photography Award, headed by Balthasar Burkhard, in order to undertake “Whiteout”.

SLOW DISSOLVE

In 2008, Geert Goiris traveled to Antarctica thanks to the Vevey International Photography Award in order to bring his “Whiteout” project to life. The name of this series refers to a meteorological phenomenon caused by a high concentration of ice crystals in the atmosphere, resulting in a very low visibility and a glaring light. He captures virgin expanses, with no apparent reliefs and bathed in a blinding clarity: “mental landscapes” that blur the boundaries between the real and the imaginary, the known and the unknown.

In all of the artist’s work - whether it be in his landscapes, in his images of architecture, or in his more sensitive portraits - we find this urge to shift the signifier “from the sphere of the real to the kingdom of ideas”. These images instil a feeling of strangeness, which is not present in these shots as such, but is triggered by the sensitivity and perception of the spectator. Geert Goiris’ photographs structure what he calls the “traumatic realism”, creating a mysterious environment that encourages us to take a closer look at an unfamiliar reality and the potential strangeness of things taken out of their context.

For the “Slow Dissolve” exhibition presented at the Espace Quai1, he will display his “Whiteout” and “Prophet” series in the form of projections, along with five photographs taken from “Resonance” and “Continental Drift”. These images have been gathered here for their narrative potential as well as their capacity to generate ambivalent readings, added to a distinctive atmosphere that blends mysticism and animism.

www.geertgoiris.info

In 2008, Geert Goiris was the laureate of the Vevey International Photography Award, organised by the Festival Images, for his project titled “Whiteout”.

During the opening, the musician Polar will present a performative response to the work of Geert Goiris. This endeavour follows on from “Constellation Polar”, a collaborative project presented by the two artists in March 2015 at the Centre Culturel Suisse in Paris.