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Anouk De Clercq: "Architectonics"

© Still from “Thing” Anouk De Clercq, 2013

12.04.2018

Filmpräsentation & Diskussion IAM Open Lecture #18

On April 12, 2018 at 6.00 pm in the Halle, Kronesgasse 5/1, Graz.  The Belgian artist Anouk De Clercq embraces the power of computer design and animation to create potential other worlds — whether imaginary landscapes or utopian architectures — that look to the future whilst paying homage to such architectural visionaries of past and present as Etienne-Louis Boullée (whose eighteenth-century monument to Newton is reimagined in “Oh“) and Robbrecht & Daem, whose recent Bruges concert hall inspired the shadowplay of De Clercq’s “Building”. The most recent work, “Thing“, which — unlike De Clercq’s previous work, all of which was designed entirely in the computer — was made by scanning urban environments and transforming them into pointillist three-dimensional profiles of buildings and streetscapes, holding space together through the barest suggestion of form. The high-definition image is able to contain subtle clouds of tiny dots that transform the real into an astonishing realm between nothing and thing, absence and the presence of total possibility. De Clercq’s commitment to architectural and musical structure gives her explorations the rational grounding of the best science fiction: these are speculative yet fully immersive environments, amplified by meticulous soundtracks of musicians like Scanner and De Clercq’s frequent collaborator Anton Aeki. Anouk De Clercq studied piano in Ghent and film at the Sint Lukas Brussels University College of Art and Design. Her works explore the audiovisual potential of computer language to create possible worlds, many of which have a strongly architectonic character. She has received several awards, including the Illy Prize at Art Brussels in 2005 and a Prix Ars Electronica Honorary Mention in 2014. Her work has been shown in Tate Modern, Centre Pompidou, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, MAXXI, Centre d’Art Contemporain Genève, International Film Festival Rotterdam, Ars Electronica, among others. Anouk De Clercq is affiliated to the School of Arts University College Ghent as an artistic researcher. She’s a founding member of Auguste Orts and is represented by Gallery Sofie Van de Velde. Anouk De Clercq’s work can found at portabak.be.