After Transient constructions (2003) and Paranoid obstructions (2004),
Els Vanden Meersch presents the third release of her photographic work
in book format. Central theme is the memory of architecture. The
historical scope of her latest publication reinforces the thematic
sensibilities of her earlier phographic work: the control mechanisms,
the paranoia and the latent violence behind large-scale building
constructions.
SAMPLES/SHOTS:
"Paranoid obstructions" Photographs by Els Vanden Meersch A new series of photographs is published in the latest issue of DWB, showing a panoptical view on 55 abandoned cells. The series is accompanied by a text of Inge Henneman.
In this photo
book, Els Vanden Meersch investigates the latent presence of violence
and dominance in the everyday reality of the urban fabric. Subtle
images contain combinations of banal details, through which emerges
a restrained tension that points at the paranoid as it is felt in
architecture. Control mechanisms such as surveillance camera?s, spy
holes and rear-view mirrors are set against one another. They gradually
raise the stakes towards displaying an impenetrable control system that
is built on the principles of military architecture, sophisticated
technology and compelling viewing apparatuses. In this machine of
anxiety, both the operator of the system and its target remain
invisible. An aimless matrix of meaning appears, in which a mirror
reveals as much as a dead-end corridor.
In an astutely accurate way,
Paranoid Obstructions offers a representation of what cannot be
outspoken nor imagined but which inevitably has happened.
Paranoid Obstructions contains an essay by Hilde Van Gelder and a poem by Alice Evermore.
Parallel to her archetectural installations, Els Vanden
Meersch has made a few thousand photographs during the past six years.
The photos are straightforeward shots of architectural elements such as
doors, corridors, blinded walls and mirrors. The book "Transient
constructions" is a selection of about one hundred photo's taken from
this unstructured archive. By their lay-out and reciprocal relation,
these images acquire an unusual character.
The collection takes you for a stroll in a supposed city, in which
every door, each window or ending of a corridor could mean an
unexpected encounter with something or someone who keeps outside of the
frame. These photographs tell us something about the gaze and the
impossible to see. As a phographical archive, one can consider the book
as a poetic essay on visual memory being associative and constructive."
(Stefan Siffer)
The book contains texts by Isabelle Lema?tre dealing the gaze and the
impossible to see in the photos of Els vanden Meersch. Stefan Siffer
writes about the structure of the photographical archive as a visual
memory. Ruth Renders takes an interview with the artist.
Transient constructions" was published by Flacc and Landschap&Portret vzw.
In this photo
book, Els Vanden Meersch investigates the latent presence of violence
and dominance in the everyday reality of the urban fabric. Subtle
images contain combinations of banal details, through which emerges
a restrained tension that points at the paranoid as it is felt in
architecture. Control mechanisms such as surveillance camera?s, spy
holes and rear-view mirrors are set against one another. They gradually
raise the stakes towards displaying an impenetrable control system that
is built on the principles of military architecture, sophisticated
technology and compelling viewing apparatuses. In this machine of
anxiety, both the operator of the system and its target remain
invisible. An aimless matrix of meaning appears, in which a mirror
reveals as much as a dead-end corridor.
In an astutely accurate way,
Paranoid Obstructions offers a representation of what cannot be
outspoken nor imagined but which inevitably has happened.
Parallel to her archetectural installations, Els Vanden
Meersch has made a few thousand photographs during the past six years.
The photos are straightforeward shots of architectural elements such as
doors, corridors, blinded walls and mirrors. The book "Transient
constructions" is a selection of about one hundred photo's taken from
this unstructured archive. By their lay-out and reciprocal relation,
these images acquire an unusual character.
Artists books