BAM

bio

'Listening is perhaps the most important position in Torfs' work. She ensures that listening becomes the great theme in her work. She puts this listening at the disposal of her public. Her "Listen!" is a very complex imperative, saturated with tears and horror, with outrage and helplessness, with sacral humility and merciless, insistent domination and control. Her, "Listen!" is not a request to listen to a story – stories require no active listening, but a passive giving over to the dynamics of a narrative – but to listen with a stethoscope, on the breast of the text, to the rumbling and rattling that secretly, disconcertingly and obscenely carries on beneath the surface, after forty years, or after four centuries.'
(Dirk Lauwaert, 'Reading as a form of writing', A Prior Magazine # 10, 2004)

The recent work of Belgian artist Ana Torfs consists, among others, of various slide projection installations, photo series, a web project, a feature film and several publications. So it is hard to peg down the artist on a specific medium, but typically she sheds a new light on fragments from Western political as well as cultural history, presenting them in a surprising and topical way. Above all, her fascinating work offers an intense visual experience. Still texts are often used as a starting point: the conversation booklets of a composer turned deaf (Zyklus von Kleinigkeiten, 1998, feature film), a text from a fifteenth century court case (Du mentir-faux, 2000, slide projection installation and artist's book), a theatre piece from 1890 (The Intruder, 2004, slide projection installation with sound tape), they are all possible take-off points.

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Solo Exhibitions and other Solo Projects (selection)

2010

Generali Foundation, Vienna (Austria)
K21, Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf (Germany)

2008

Sprengel Museum, Hannover (Germany)

2007

Argos, Brussels (Belgium)

2006

daadgalerie, Berlin (Germany)
Gesellschaft für Aktuelle Kunst (GAK), Bremen (Germany)

2005

deSingel, Antwerp (Belgium)

2004

'Ana Torfs' (www.diaart.org/torfs), Dia Art Foundation, New York (USA)
Roomade, Brussels (Belgium)

2003

Het Kabinet, Ghent (Belgium)

2002

Etablissement d'en Face projects, Brussel (België)

2000

Société des Expositions du Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels (Belgium)

1998

KunstenFESTIVALdesArts, Brussels (Belgium)

1996

Foro Artistico, Hannover (Germany)

1993

Royal Palace, ANTWERPEN93, Cultural Capital of Europe, Antwerp (Belgium)

Group Exhibitions (selection)

2010

'The State of Things. Brussels/Beijing', NAMOC, Beijing (China)
'Demain vous n'y penserez plus', Galerie Art & Essai, Rennes (France)
'Belge avant tout, regard sur l'art actuel en Belgique', Le Fresnoy, Studio national des arts contemporains, Tourcoing (France)

2009

'Time is a book', Ghent, (Belgium)
'Jeugdzonde / Over opus één en opus min één', Hedah, Centrum voor hedendaagse kunst, Maastricht (The Netherlands)
'Jeugdzonde / Over opus één en opus min één', LLS 387, Ruimte voor actuele kunst, Antwerp (Belgium)
'Vérité Exposée - About Memory', Ernst Museum/Mucsarnok, Kunsthalle Budapest (Hungary) www.mucsarnok.hu/...
'A Story of the Image', Shangai Art Museum, Shangai (China)
'A Story of the Image', National Museum of Singapore (Singapore)

2008

'Un coup de dés', Generali Foundation, Vienna (Austria)
'Peripheral Look and Collective Body', Museion, Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Bolzano (Italy)

2007

'The Projection Project, Budapest Episode', Mucsarnok/Kunsthalle Budapest (Hungary)
'A story of the Image, Visual Art as Visual Culture', MuHKA, Antwerp (Belgium)
'Research and Invention', Fotomuseum, Winterthur (Switzerland)
'Talking Pictures', K21, Düsseldorf, (Germany)
'Borderline Behaviour', TENT, Rotterdam (The Netherlands)
'Übergangsräume - Potential Spaces', Württembergische Kunstverein, Stuttgart (Germany)

2006

'The Projection Project', MUHKA, Antwerp (Belgium)
'Sonambiente', Berlin (Germany)

2005

'Screen Tests', Fotomuseum, Rotterdam (The Netherlands)
Visionary Belgium, Palais des Beaux Arts, Brussels (Belgium)
'The Web as a Work of Art', Victoria University's vuspace gallery, Melbourne (Australia)
'Photo Based', MUHKA, Antwerp (Belgium)
'Belgian Photography 1840-2005', Fotomuseum, Antwerp (Belgium)

2004

'Dedicated to a Proposition', Extra-City, Antwerp (Belgium)
'Duo Track', Flemish-Dutch House, Brussels (Belgium)
'Nuits d'été', Frac Lorraine, Metz (France)
'Short Stories', Fotomuseum, Antwerp (Belgium)

2003

'Once upon a time, a look at art in Belgium in the nineties', MUHKA, Antwerp (Belgium)
'Réalités', Galerie Zacheta, Warsaw (Poland)

2002

'ForwArt', Royal Library, Brussels (Belgium)
'Uncertain signs/True Stories', Badischer Kunstverein, Karlsruhe (Germany)

2001

'Exploding Cinema, Cinema without Walls', Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, Rotterdam (The Netherlands)
'Ciphers & Letters', Medienkunstverein, hARTware Projekte, Dortmund (Germany)
'Biennale de l'Image en Mouvement', Geneva (Switzerland)

2000

'Tous les temps/Every Time', Biennale d'Art Contemporain de Montreal (Canada)

1997

'Inside the Visible', Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth (Australia)

1996

'Inside the Visible', ICA-Boston (USA)
'Inside the Visible', White Chapel Art Gallery, London (United Kingdom)
'Sonambiente', Festival für Hören und Sehen, Berlin (Germany)
'Transvisionen', Foro Artistico, Hannover (Germany)

1995

'3e Biennale d'Art Contemporain de Lyon', Lyon (France)

Bibliography (selection)

'Ana Torfs', in: Sonambiente Katalog, Kehrer Verlag, Heidelberg, 2006
Allen Jennifer, 'Ana Torfs in daadgalerie', in: Artforum, December 2006, pp.323-324
Asthoff Jens, 'Ana Torfs', in: Artforum's Critic's Picks, 2006
Braet Jan, 'Van de kant van het licht', in: Knack, 11 October 2000
Braet Jan, 'Mensen in donkere dagen', in: Knack, October 2002
Carels Edwin, 'Enigmatische raadsels', in: Tijd, 16 December 2003
de Smedt Erik, 'Ana Torfs' anamorfosen' in: nY, website en tijdschrift voor literatuur, kritiek en amusement, 7 April 2010
Dressler Iris, 'Du mentir-faux', in: Hartware 2001, Dortmund, 2001
Eelbode Erik, 'Ana Torfs', in: Photo Art, Fotografie im 21 Jahrhundert, DuMont Verlag, Köln, 2007
Gale Peggy, 'Du mentir-faux' (About lying Falsehood), in: Tous les Temps, Biennale d'Art Contemporain de Montreal, Canada, 2000
Henneman Inge, 'Ana Torfs', in: Belgische Fotografen 1840-2005, Ludion, Ghent, 2005
Krystof Doris, 'Der Eindringling' - Raum und Theatralität in den Projektionen von Ana Torfs', in: Frohne, Ursula & Haberer Lilian (ed.), Kinematografische Räume, Installationsästhetik in Film und Kunst, Wilhelm Fink Verlag, Munich, 2010
Krystof Doris, 'The Intruder', in: Talking Pictures, Cat., Dumont Verlag, Köln, 2007
Kwakkenbos Lars, 'Een traan van Jeanne d'Arc', in: De Standaard, 8 April 2010
Kwakkenbos Lars, 'Maskerade in de bibliotheek', in: De Standaard, 24 October 2002
Kwakkenbos Lars, 'Approximations/Contradictions', in: Elle, December 2004
Kwakkenbos Lars, 'De vragen voorbij', in: De Standaard, June 24, 2004
Kwakkenbos Lars, 'Veel vertellen met weinig', in: De Standaard, December 24, 2004
Lauwaert Dirk, 'Portrait of My Heroine', in: Du mentir-faux, Societé des Expositions du Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, 2000
Lauwaert Dirk, 'Beelden om te lezen, teksten om te zien' in: Tijd, December 1, 2004
Lauwaert Dirk, 'Reading As a Form of Writing', in: A Prior Magazine # 10, October 2004
Lauwaert Dirk, 'The Intruder', in: Figuren/Projektionen 2000-2005, GAK, Bremen, 2006
Lauwaert Dirk, ANATOMY in: Fotomuseum Magazine 38, September 2007
Mackert Gabriele, 'The World Observer', in: Kat. Figuren/Projektionen 2000-2005, GAK, Bremen, 2006
Nabakowski Gislind, 'Uncertain Signs/True Stories', in: Springerin, Heft 2, 2002
Nakas Kassandra, 'Un-Sentimental Journeys. Exploring 'Space' in Ana Torfs' Work'. in: Van Damme, Claire (ed.) Invitation au voyage, Academia Press, Ghent, 2010
Nasielski Tania, ANATOMY, in: Untitled 42, Summer 2007
Nicola Kuhn, 'Luxemburg, Liebknecht, Politkowskaja, Ana Torfs' Installation in der daadgalerie', in: Der Tagesspiegel, 17/10/2006
Peeters Wim, 'Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Belgian Art, But Were Afraid to Ask a Belgian', in: Flash Art nr 235, March 2004
Peeters, Wim, 'Ana Torfs' Trial Anatomy, Revolution', in: Art Papers, Jan/Feb, 2007
Pültau Dirk, 'The Blind Singer and the Absent Composer', in: A Prior Magazine # 10, October 2004
Robberechts Catherine, 'Du mentir-faux, in: Actuele Kunst van Wim Delvoye tot Luc Tuymans, Standaard Uitgeverij, Antwerpen, 2007
Robberechts Catherine, 'Du mentir-faux', in: IN/VISIBLE, Collections Frac Lorraine, JRP/RINGIER, Zürich, 2006
Robberechts Catherine, 'Du mentir-faux', in: Réalités, Zacheta Galeria, Warsaw, 2003
Robberechts Catherine, 'Elective Affinities/The Truth of Masks & Tables of Affinities (2000-2002)', in: ForwArt, Brussels, 2002
Robberechts Catherine, 'Impossible Portraits', in: Uncertain signs-True Stories, Badischer Kunstverein, Karslruhe, 2002
Roelstraete Dieter, 'Ana Torfs', in: Jubilee, MUHKA 2007/1987/1967, Antwerp, 2007
Ruyters, Marc, 'De waarheid in alle mogelijke talen misbruikt', in: ART, 12, 2006
Seelig Thomas, 'Du mentir-faux', in: Research and Invention, Cat., Ringier Verlag, Zürich, 2007
'The Intruder' in: Contemporary Art in Belgium II, Fondation pour les Arts, Brussels, 2005
Torfs Ana, ALBUM/TRACKS A+ B, Verlag für Moderne Kunst Nürnberg, 2010
Torfs Ana, Beethoven's Nephew, Yves Gevaert, Brussels, 1999
Torfs Ana, Du mentir-faux, Societé des Expositions du Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, 2000
Torfs Ana, Elective Affinities/The Truth of Masks & Tables of Affinities, 2002
Torfs Ana, Figuren/Projektionen 2000-2005, Gesellschaft für Aktuelle Kunst, Bremen, 2006
Torfs Ana, Anatomy, DAAD, Berlin, 2006
Torrent Jean, 'à...à...aaah!', in: Kat. Figuren/Projektionen 2000-2005, GAK, Bremen, 2006
Torrent Jean, 'à...à...aaah!', on http://users.pandora.be/het-kabinet/, 2003
Torrent Jean, 'Correspondences', in: A Prior Magazine # 10, October 2004
Tucker Sara, 'Approximations/Contradictions', on http://www.diaart.org/torfs/intro.html
Urban Annette, 'Displacement', in: Nierhaus, Irene / Hoenes, Josh / Urban, Annette (ed.) Landschaftlichkeit zwischen Kunst, Architektur und Theorie, Reimer Verlag, Berlin, 2010
Van Bogaert Pieter, 'ALBUM/TRACKS A in Düsseldorf. Leren om te reizen', in: HART #64, 25 March, 2010
Van Bogaert Pieter, 'Tijdloos en op afstand', in: Tijd, December 23, 2004
Zein Gloria, 'Die Ausdehnnug der Tatnacht, Die Geschichte wiederaufführen', in: Taz, 7/10/2006