An absence set in scene
Conférence de l'artiste Richard Venlet
Tuesday 23 March 2021Cycle de conférences
(Art & exhibition architecture)
The work of the Brussels artist Richard Venlet (° 1964) combines sculpture, art historical research, exhibition design and architecture. Venlet creates 'environments' from spaces. Working in context-specific situations, he has produced numerous installations incorporating the work of other artists and collaborators, creating composite environments that are often whimsical reconfigurations of architectural space. By intervening in a space, the artist gives the viewer an experience of alienation; he invites the viewer to see his environment anew and to play an essential role in it.
In his oeuvre there is no essential distinction between a work of art and an exhibition. Venlet uses the whole range of exhibition tools: the architecture of an exhibition, the context of a space, the visitor's navigation, works of art, artifacts, documents, pedestals, walls, doors, visitors, museum personnel, printed matter and so on. The way in which he deals with these parameters is neither conceptual nor intended to become institutional critique Rather, it is spatial. His exhibitions take the form of installations that balance in a very precise way between sculpture and architecture.