Inverso Mundus
The title of the work, Inverso – both an Italian “reverse, the opposite” and the Old Italian “poetry,” and Mundus – the Latin “world,” hints at a reinterpretation of reality, a poetic vision. In our interpretation, the absurdist scenes from the medieval carnival appear as episodes of contemporary life in a multichannel video installation. Characters act out scenes of absurd social utopias and exchange masks, morphing from beggars to rich men, from policemen to thieves. Metrosexual street-cleaners are showering the city with refuse. Female inquisitors torture men on IKEA-style structures. Children and seniors are fighting in a kickboxing match. Inverso Mundus is a world where chimeras are pets and the Apocalypse is entertainment.

feast of trimalchio

Das Fest von Trimalchio: Ankunft des goldenen Bootes

Von dem Satyricon von Petronius, der witzigen und melancholischen Lyrik der Ära von Kaiser Nero, ist nur das Kapitel, das dem Abendessen von Trimalcione gewidmet ist, fast intakt erhalten. Petronius ‘Phantasie machte den Namen Trimalcione zum Symbol für Rezeption und Luxus, für das Laster der Völlerei und Lust trotz der Vergänglichkeit des menschlichen Lebens.
Wir haben versucht, etwas Ähnliches in den Realitäten des dritten Jahrtausends darzustellen. So haben wir Trimalchione, ehemaligen Diener, Freigelassenen, neuen reichen Mann, der in seinem Palast viele Tage lang Feste veranstaltet, anstelle eines Menschen als ein verallgemeinertes Bild eines Luxushotels gesehen, einer Art irdischem Paradies, dem Wohnzimmer, in dem er sich befindet vorausbezahlt.
Die Gäste des Hotels – die “Meister”, Vertreter der “goldenen Milliarde” – versuchen, zu jeder Jahreszeit einen Teil ihrer Zeit dem Aufenthalt im heutigen Trimalcione zu widmen, das sein Palasthotel mit äußerster Exotik und Luxus ausgestattet hat. Die Architektur des Palazzo Hotels ist eine absurde Synthese des tropischen Strandes mit dem Skigebiet.

“To me couture is the best source of excitement in fashion. Our debut collection was mix between couture orientated fashion and ready-to-wear. With AV Couture, I hope to create a true couture atelier, which stands for traditional craftsmanship and perfection.
Working for my own label was always my biggest dream. AV Couture is an instrument to visualize our thoughts, and all the society’s absurdities we think are essential to tackle.” Vincent Lapp

Wyne Veen is a Dutch artist working in the photographic medium. Veen’s work consists of sculptural arrangements, utilizing everyday objects and their isolated materials. The work possesses an aesthetic and absurd appeal. Inspired by all things overly developed, Veen is fascinated by our highly manufactured lives, while also endlessly drawn to all steps of the production process. Veen graduated from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in 2008 and maintains a studio in the Red Light district of Amsterdam

Kramer doesn’t seem to be that interested in the aesthetic tradition of photography so much as creating the right image. His pictures are exciting, even the most simple still life has an energy; the textures, form and playfulness palpable. This is an artist with a style that embraces the absurdity of life and has a humour that is utterly disarming.

Vivisector

o what extent does the quality of movement of the virtual world influence real sequences of human movement? Will the real world of the 21st century assume via nanotechnology attributes of the virtual world? Are there still significant differences between a body that is made of synthetic material and warmed artificially and the deep glow of trillions of living cells? VIVISECTOR is an examination of the different speeds of people/nature and technology/information society and of their acceleration; an experiment to overcome the space-time continuum in the real world. It breaks the linearity of movement and in doing so shows the absurdity of momentum. Based on the video-technological concept of the moving body-projection that made D.A.V.E. an international hit, VIVISECTOR now goes one step further: the exclusive concentration on video light and video projection produces a new stage aesthetic in which light, body, video and acoustic space form an unprecedented unity.

“Hannes Van Severen makes the connection between reality and imagination in his work. The artist starts with an existing, everyday object, usually a piece of furniture, which he then transforms and changes. In this way, he deprives the object of its original functionality and allows its aesthetic value to prevail. As a result, the original usefulness of the everyday object no longer predominates, but his work nevertheless continues to be a visual reference to the original. With this paradoxical construction, Hannes Van Severen creates a fictitious world of images with alternative, intrinsic meanings and potential. The observer has to let go of the explanatory and allow his or her imagination to take flight. In combination with the personal experience of the observer, a richer dimension of the reality experienced will emerge with the new reading and interpretation of things that are apparently obvious. With this transformation, Van Severen wants to break down our recognition, to question the obviousness of our reality, and to show us the absurdity that surrounds us. Like the cubists and the surrealists, the artist divides into pieces and rearranges  an existing reality, which means that he can be described as a saboteur of the obvious.” Stef Van Bellingen