Lundi 09 Novembre 2015 15:47:37 par Antoine Coutin dans Expositions

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.

WALT, 2014 © Geert Goiris

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.

From the series Whiteout © Geert Goiris

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.