Opening 12 oktober 18.00 -21.00, Open: Mon 14.00 - 20.30 | Wed 14.00 - 20.30 | Sat 10.00 - 14.30, Closed: 31/10 - 6/11 and on 11/11
This exhibition presents a selection of recent work by Hans Verhaegen made since April 2021. The works exhibited are the result of instructions written by Hans Verhaegen, executed by a computer and printed on paper for this occasion. There is also one animation ("Time") on display throughout the year in the entrance hall of the academy.
All the works can be seen as a play with text. Some works are literal renderings of famous works of world literature (Ulysses by James Joyce, La Disparition by Perec), others use quotations, titles or sequences of words, which are manipulated on the screen in many different ways.
Remarkably, the viewer cannot read these texts because Hans Verhaegen has replaced the letters, the characters of the alphabet, with figures of his own design. Hans Verhaegen paints by animating texts, phrases and words rhythmically across the screen until an abstract image of interest to him emerges, which he then captures via a simple click.
All the images, as well as the three different self-designed fonts he uses, are all created by the combination of no more than 8 very simple geometric shapes. With those shapes, he almost always constructs blocky human figures. By manipulation of the characteristics of those shapes and figures through instructions written in code for a computer, a huge variety of sometimes playful, sometimes very rigid graphic work has emerged since 2002.
The title of this exhibition also refers to the name of the well-known alternative Tezos NFT platfrom "Hic et nunc" (HEN). Especially in the spring and summer of 2021, it caused a huge revival of digital art. Different generations of digital artists met online and, for the first time in history, were able to present their digital art and simultaneously offer it for sale to interested collectors. Hic et nunc now lives on under the name "Teia" (https://teia.art/) and is run entirely by a community of digital artists.
All the works in this exhibition were created in function of or inspired by the lively scene of those new online Tezos platforms for digital art.
