bio
In the work of Brussels artist Sven Augustijnen, we see a concentration on the notion of the portrait. Using a hybrid of genres and techniques, he explores the boundaries between fiction and reality and plays with the viewer's expectations. His video work is shown in the contexts of both installation and cinema screening. After concentrating his early work on juggling words and texts and his enquiry into the properties of his material, he has been making series of 'portraits'. Augustijnen plays with different ways of approaching that basic given: docu-soap, human-interest, fake documentary and home movies are juxtaposed and intermixed. The artist misleads the viewer, who becomes a voyeur of acts in which fiction and fact are not easily disentangled.
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Exhibitions (selection)
2007
'Cher Pourquoi Pas ?, A Prior Magazine #14', Documenta, Kassel (Germany)
'A Story of the Image: Visual Art as Visual Culture', MuHKA, Antwerp (Belgium)
'Rouge baiser', Biennale Estuaire Nantes, Saint Nazaire (France)
'Kunst op de Wei - AmuseeVous', Rock Werchter, Werchter (Belgium)
'Vanaf nu!..', LLS 387, Antwerp (Belgium)
'Mood Salon', s.l., Athene (Greece)
'L'Histoire Belge', Jan Mot, Brussels (Belgium)
'Imaginary Belgium', Old Embassy, Tokyo (Japan)
Maison Grégoire, Uccle (Belgium)
'Factory #2', CC Strombeek, Grimbergen (Belgium)
'As It Screams Just Please Love Me', FormContent, London (United Kingdom)
'Deuxièmes Rencontres Internationales du Film Documentaire', Doc à Tunis, Tunis (Tunesië)
KunstenfestivaldesArts, BXLBRAVO, Brussels (Belgium)
UGent, Vakgroep Architectuur en Stedebouw, Ghent (Belgium)
'Tanzen, Sehen - The Provocation of the Media in the Dialogue of Dance and Fine Art', Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Siegen (Germany)
2006
'Eclipses du Réel, Fri-Art', Centre d'Art Contemporain, Fribourg (Switzerland)
'Mardi de l'Art, Sven Augustijnen entre fiction et documentaire', Université de Luxembourg, Luxembourg (Luxembourg)
'Paperback', CGAC Centro Galego de Arte Contemporánea, Santiago de Compostela (Spain)
'Freestate', Site Old Military Hospital, Ostend (Belgium)
'Crossing Anspach', s.l., Brussels (Belgium)
'L'Ecole des Pickpockets', CAC TV, Vilnius (Lithuania)
Art 37 Basel, Jan Mot, Basel (Switzerland)
2005
Argosfestival, argos, Brussels (Belgium)
'Information/Transformation', Extra City, Antwerp (Belgium)
'Manon de Boer and Brussels', Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven (The Netherlands)
'In This Colony', Kunstfort bij Vijfhuizen, Amsterdam (The Netherlands)
Musée d'Art Contemporain de Strasbourg, Strasbourg (France)
'Is dit Belgisch?', MuHKA Cinema, Antwerp (Belgium)
'IDYL As To Answer That Picture', Middelheim Openlucht Museum, Antwerp (Belgium)
'Bevreemdende Verkenningen', Sint-Lukas Galerij, Brussels (Belgium)
'Brussels' Topologies', Argos, Brussels (Belgium)
'Nederland niet Nederland', Stedelijk van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven (The Netherlands)
2004
'Manifesta 5, European Biennal for Contemporary Art', s.l. , San Sebastian (Spain)
'Vollevox Lounge', Vanderborght, Brussels (Belgium)
'Une Femme Entreprenante', Argos, Brussels (Belgium), with premiere of the film at Flagey, Brussels (Belgium)
'Drafting Deceit', Apexart, New York (United States of America)
'Elders', Galerie Paul Andriesse, Amsterdam (The Netherlands)
'Zona de Mestizaje', Museo Nacional Centro e Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid (Spain)
Pictura, Dordrecht (The Netherlands)
'Tour-ism', Fundaçion Antoni Tàpies, Barcelona (Spain)
'Social Affairs', Ministery of Social Affairs of the Netherlands, The Hague (The Netherlands)
2003
International Film Festival Rotterdam, s.l., Rotterdam (The Netherlands)
'Coconut Tour', Centre Régional d'Art Contemporain Languedoc-Roussillon, Sète (France)
'Hard Kijken', s.l., Nijmegen & Arnhem (The Netherlands)
'COURTisane', Victoria, Ghent (Belgium)
'Revolution/Restauration 01', Bozar, Brussels (Belgium)
20th World Wide Videofestival Amsterdam, Amsterdam (The Netherlands)
'Contour', s.l., Mechelen (Belgium)
Short Filmfestival, Grimstadt (Noorwegen)
'Wiels!', Wiels, Brussels (België)
'Urban Dramas', De Singel, Antwerp (Belgium)
'Doc en courts', Cinéma Opéra, Lyon (France)
'24/7: Wilno - Nueva Nork (visa para)', CAC, Vilnius (Lithuania)
'Once Upon a Time...', MuHKA, Antwerp (Belgium)
'Belgian Focus', Argos festival, Brussels (Belgium)
Kunstfilmbiennale, s.l., Köln (Duitsland)
'Another World Museum', gallery Side 2, Tokyo (Japan)
14e Festival International du Documentaire, s.l., Marseille (France)
'Beeldenstorm #2', Buda-eiland, Kortrijk (Belgium)
2002
'L'Effet Larsen', Casino, Forum d'art contemporain, Luxembourg (Luxembourg)
Transmediale.02 International Media Art Festival, s.l., Berlin (Germany)
'To Die For', De Appel, Amsterdam (The Netherlands)
Argos Festival, argos, Brussels (Belgium)
'New Space, Opening Show', Galerie Jan Mot, Brussels (Belgium)
Etablissement d'en Face at MuHKA, Antwerp (Belgium)
'La Salle de Cinéma', Centre d'art La Passerelle, Brest (France)
Ramallah International Video Festival (Palestine)
'Mission Mont des Arts', screening at the Palais des Beaux-Arts, Fondation Roi Baudouin, Brussels (Belgium)
2001
Galerie Jan Mot, Brussels (Belgium)
Escale, Düsseldorf (Germany)
Prix de la Jeune Peinture Belge, Palais des Beaux-Arts / Paleis voor Schone Kunsten, Brussels (Belgium)
'L'Effet Larsen', OK Zentrum für Gegenwartskunst, Linz (Austria)
2000
'Total Blackout', NICC, Antwerp (Belgium)
'Metro>Polis', Brussels (Belgium)
Cinémathèque de Toulouse (France)
Beursschouwburg, Brussel (Belgium)
Rencontres Urbaines 2000, La Villette, Paris (France)
'Being-together', Marres, Maastricht (The Netherlands)
Site, Düsseldorf (Germany)
1999
Centre Suzanne Delal, Cinématèque de Tel Aviv, Tel Aviv (Israël)
Centre chorégraphique national de Rennes (France)
'Les Rencontres du 8ème Type', s.l., Tours (France)
'Freespace', NICC, Antwerp (Belgium)
W139, Amsterdam (The Netherlands)
'Untitled day', Centrum Beeldende Kunsten, Maastricht (The Netherlands)
'Big Brother', Stroom, Haags centrum voor beeldende kunsten, The Hague (The Netherlands)
'De Onzichtbare Stad', Marres, Maastricht (The Netherlands)
'Mladi Levi', s.l., Ljubljana (Slovenia)
'World Wide Videofestival', s.l., Amsterdam (The Netherlands)
'8ème Biennale pour l'image en mouvement', s.l., Genève (Switzerland)
'Representaties van extreem-rechts', CC Berchem, Antwerp (Belgium)
'Open Days', Jan Van Eyck Academie, Maastricht (The Netherlands)
1998
'Argos Information Days', Beursschouwburg, Brussels (Belgium)
W139, Amsterdam (The Netherlands)
'KunstenFestivaldesArts', Nova, Brussels (Belgium)
'Lost and Found', Maatschappij voor Oude en Nieuwe Media, Amsterdam (The Netherlands)
Centre national de la dance, Paris (France)
'L'Histoire', HEDAH, Maastricht (The Netherlands)
'Open Days', Jan Van Eyck Academie, Maastricht (The Netherlands)
'T.B. ZES', s.l., Antwerp (Belgium)
Videoscene Brussel, Kunsthalle Basel, Basel (Switzerland)
Bibliography (selection)
Jan Verwoert, The Practical Surrealism of Power. Jan Verwoert on the Works of Sven Augustijnen. A Prior Magazine #14, June 2007, pp. 146-155.
Sven Augustijnen, The Baron's Palace. Notes for a Filmscript, Pages, On The Verge of Vertigo, N. 5, 2006.
Raimundas Malasauskas, Royal Itinaries. An interview with Sven Augustijnen, Dot Dot Dot, N.13, Winter 2006-2007, pp. 23-31
Sven Augustijnen, L'histoire Belge, Vrai ou Faux?, HTV, N. 66, November-December, 2006, pp. 14-15
Amanda Cuesta, Paperback edicions baratas, CGAC, 2006
Raimundas Malasauskas, Koninklijke Routes. Een interview met Sven Augustijnen, Metropolis M, N. 3, June-July 2006, pp. 44-49, 95-98
Nathalie Stefanov, Sven Augustijnen. Visite Guidée, Parade, N. 6, June 2006, pp. 24-28
David Ulrichs, Sujeto a Cambios / Subject to Change, Lapiz, N. 224, 2006, pp. 54-56
Raimundas Malasauskas, Koninklijke Routes. Een Interview Met Sven Augustijnen, Metropolis M, N. 3, June-July 2006, pp. 44-49
Nathalie Stefanov, Sven Augustijnen. Visite Guidée, Parade Revue d'Art et de Litérature, N. 6, Ecole Régionale Superieure d'Expression Plastique, Tourcoing, 2006
Francesco Manacorda, Disbelief as a Medium, Newspaper Jan Mot, N. 51, March 2006
Barbara Verlinden and Elena Filipovic, The Manifesta Decade. Debates on Contemporary Art Exhibitions and Biennials in Post-Wall Europe, Roomade, Brussels, 2005
Adina Balog, Banu Cennetoglu, Marie Denkens, Benjamin Eggermont and Wim Peeters, Information / Transformation, Extra City, Antwerp, 2005
Paul Willemsen, Sven Augustijnen, In This Colony / In Deze Kolonie, Kunstfort Bij Vijfhuizen, Vijfhuizen, 2005, pp. 46-51
Pieter Van Bogaert, Kijken Als een Vreemdeling in een Stad. Manon de Boer Toont "Haar" Brussel in Eindhoven, De Tijd, 06/04/05
Manon de Boer & Phillip van den Bossche, Manon de Boer en Brussel, Journal # 8, Van Abbemuseum, February-May, 2005
Maxine Kopsa, 'Tu n'as rien vu à Hiroshima. Rien'. Embedded, Metropolis M, February 2005, pp. 109-118
Roos Gortzak, Het Elders van de Herinnering, De Volkskrant, 05/01/2005, pp. 17
Christine Vuegen, Feiten en Fictie, Kunstbeeld, December and January 2004/2005, pp. 22-23
Mathieu Colleyn, Wielemans sur video, La Dernière Heure, 31/08/2004, p. 20
Wido Smeets, Nieuwe Vlaamse Meesters op Manifesta 5, De Morgen, 02/08/2004, p. 17
Sonia Compagnola, Eyes Wide Shut, Flash Art, July-September 2004, pp. 39-56
Robert Roos, Een Wereld in het Hoofd, Kunstbeeld, July-August 2004, pp. 10
Thomas Wulffen, Manifesta 5, Kunstforum International, July-August 2004, pp. 276-281
Nicola Kuhn, Labyrint Hirn, Der Tagesspiegel, 25/06/2004
Patrice Moreaux, Manifsta 5, With All Due Intent, Smalandsposten, 23/06/2004
M. Marin, Comienza en San Sebastian Manifesta 5, una radiografia de la vanguardia artistica, El Pais, 11/06/2004, p. 41
Martin Herbert, Basque to the Future, Martin Herbert on Manifesta 5, ArtForum, May 2004
Eva Wittocx, Aperto Brussels, Flash Art, No. 235, March-April 2004, pp. 69-71
M. Marin, 6 creadores revelaran en la Manifesta 5 de San Sebastian el potencial de la trangresion en el arte, El Pais, 31/03/2004
Michael Tarantino, Sven Augustijnen. De waarheidsindex, Wiels!, Centrum voor Hedendaagse Kunst VZW, 2003, pp. 137-148.
Els Roelandt, Niet op Wieltjes, Tijd cultuur, 10/09/2003, p. 3
John McGee, Another World Museum, Metropolis Tokyo, June 2003
Geert Van der Speeten, Brussels Braakland Wordt Kunst, De Standaard, 09/09/2003, p. 26
Lars Kwakkenbos, Drama's van de Stad, De Standaard, 18/09/2003
Ward Daenen, De verborgen Zijde van de Maan, De Morgen, 16/12/2002, p. 27
Wilfried Eetezonne, Brouwerij moet Hedendaagse Kunst Worden, De Morgen, 05/07/02
Els Roelandt, Tekeningen, Tijd Cultuur, 08/05/02
Nica Broucke, Ik Bekritiseer de Maatschappij, Niet de Kunst, De Morgen, 06/05/ 2002, p. 28
Sandra Smallenburg, Een Uitgerukt Hart, NRC Handelsblad, 15/02/02
Sandra Kolten (ed.), Der Larsen Effekt. Proezsshafte Resonanzen in der Zeitgenössischen Kunst, Centrum für Gegenwartskunst, Oberösterreich, Linz and Casino Luxembourg, Luxemburg, 2002
Luk Lambrecht, Als zes jonge honden vechten om een been, De Morgen, 15/11/2001
Els Roelandt, 'Migrants & Variants' van Eran Schaerf, Tijd Cultuur, 22/05/2001, p. 16
works
Panorama
Extra bijlage bij De Tijd van Sven Augustijnen
The newspaper supplement PANORAMA was produced in the context of the exhibition INFORMATION/TRANSFORMATION at the centre for contemporary art Extra City in Antwerp. It appeared as an extra supplement to the Belgian financial daily newspaper DE TIJD.
On October 8th in that same newspaper, an advertisement with the heading "How Brussels Hijacked Europe" announced the appearance of that supplement. This announcement turned out to be the omen for yet another hijacking: the editorial team of DE TIJD and its readers ascertained on the 12th of October that their trusted newspaper contained the extra PANORAMA supplement, unbeknownst to the editorial team.
Une Femme Entreprenante
Une Femme Entreprenante Sven Augustijnen 2004 video | 01:12:00 | col. | sound orig. version: French | avail. languages: English However unambiguous reality might be or seem at first sight, in the work of Sven Augustijnen it is always unravelled as a complex and troubled subject. His video work explores the boundaries between report, research documentary and docu-soap. Appearance and reality go hand in hand, balancing on a fine line between revealing and concealing. Having turned upside down the site of the Kunstberg in Brussels in Mission Mont des Arts (2002) Augustijnen turns to WIELS with Une femme entreprenante, a new centre for contemporary art now in scaffolding in Forest. The figure of Sophie Le Clercq, building promoter and ‘la force motrice’ behind this cultural project on the site of the former brewery of Wielemans-Ceuppens is at the centre. On the one hand this video might be considered a hommage to the forceful woman who is in charge of the building promoter CIT Blaton; on the other the author uses Le Clercq, who appears on screen only rarely, as a catalyst for all kinds of historical and genealogical trajectories on urban development in Brussels. As if by coincidence these trajectories get more and more entangled in the jumble of art, brokerage and politics, ‘le marais de Bruxelles’. A fierce ‘journalist’, a highly enacted contraction of ignorance, enthusiasm and astonishment, takes the audience in tow for a further acquaintance with the protagonists behind the WIELS-project. In a saga full of unexpected complications a number of other actants from the political-economical and cultural world in Brussels casually pass in review. Augustijnen switches between the age-old dream of setting up a contemporary art centre in Brussels and subtexts like the genealogy and the achievements of the Blaton dynasty or the downfall of the brewery sector in Brussels. In this documentary, shaped like a ‘report’ without actually being one, he manages to tie in widely divergent realities with great ingenuity. This results in a play between communicating vessels, the various levels of real estate, heritage and art intersecting with each other in predictable as well as surprising ways. Une femme entreprenante puts the spectator at the centre of an all encompassing mosaic of perspectives. Augustijnen undermines conventional documentary codes or subtly erodes them. Between fact and fiction, truthful social representation and voyeuristic entertainment various cross relations take place. Stylistically, for instance, the way games are played with the relations between cameraman, interviewer, interviewee and producer creates situations way past the predictable or immediately legible codes of the audiovisual practice and the immediate legibility by the audience. In short one might say the audience is taken to a middle area where he would never come in other circumstances.
François
François Sven Augustijnen 2003 video | 00:22:50 | col. | sound orig. version: Dutch | avail. languages: English, French François constitutes, along with the film Johan, a purely documentary portrait of patients with aphasia. François, a middle-aged man, suffers from aphasia – memory lapses – and he has trouble finding the right words for simple expressions. In order to train his memory he undergoes various treatments in a hospital, among them speech therapy. During one of these sessions Augustijnen is present with his camera, filming François who keeps chattering incessantly to fill the gaps in his memory. The editing accentuates the unfocused and stammering line of thought of the aphasia patient.
Mission Mont des Arts
Mission Mont des Arts Sven Augustijnen 2002 video | 00:53:00 | col. | sound orig. version: French | avail. languages: English, Dutch Sven Augustijnen was invited by the Koning Boudewijnstichting to follow the ‘Commissie Kunstberg’ on their numerous meetings and walks. For a number of years this commission has been striving for a revaluation of the Kunstberg in Brussels through a series of initiatives. This neighbourhood plays an important part in the regard of the city because of its architectural, urban and social context. Augustijnen keeps close to his guide, who is passionate about the monarchy, and his assistant on their expedition: he observes their enthusiasm, their curiosity and amazement and lets his camera linger subjectively through the spaces. In the most surprising locations in and around the Royal Palace, the Palace of Fine Arts, the National Library and the Central Railway Station, a series of meetings unravels with their users, local authorities, inhabitants and tourists. The question which arises here is that of the mission, bestowed upon the artist, and the Kunstberg itself: are they supposed to reveal the traces of what must have been a luscious court to the Dukes of Burgundy? To give an idea of what might become of the new capital of Europe? To represent the neighbourhood as a utopia where art, science, politics and life are represented as the institutions of the future? Augustijnen evokes perspectives and fantasies for this national landmark.
Le Guide du Parc
Le Guide du Parc
Sven Augustijnen
2001
video | 00:44:11 | col. | sound
orig. version: French | avail. languages: English, Dutch
An unusual visit of the Parc Royal in Brussels. The guide in this fake documentary introduces you to the habits of the parc's gay scene, taking his time, slowly making you discover the hundred details of the parc's 'social life'. An educational film where you learn all about the historical facts of the Parc Royal as well as a 'sociological' document, but most of all a humorous film around an amazing caracter: le guide du parc.
Johan
Johan
Sven Augustijnen
2001
video | 00:23:38 | col. | sound
orig. version: Dutch | avail. languages: English, French
Johan is a purely documentary film that shows the therapy undergone by a patient suffering from aphasia. Aphasia is an illness that affects the language centres of the brain and that can be generated by, amongst other things, a cerebral -tumour or -haemorrhage. Patients suffering from aphasia are often subject to chronic memory loss, and due to the ensuing semantic or interpretative disturbances they cannot recognise as such or correctly categorise certain specific objects. With the beginning of Sven Augustijnen's film, the camera and the filming process themselves go to comprise some aspect of the therapy, thereby itself functioning as feedback for these media.
L'Ecole des Pickpockets
L'Ecole des Pickpockets
Sven Augustijnen
2000
video | 00:48:00 | col. | sound
orig. version: French | avail. languages: English
Charles Dickens framed petty theft (most famously in his novel Oliver Twist') as a gesture of civil disobedience in a society that did little to care for the poor, yet today the slight handed art of the pickpocket is more often than not reduced to a side show element in the dizzy and contagious acts of prime time TV magicians. However, in Brussels, like most major cities, pickpocketing is a day-to-day reality.
Shot in a single working day, this film observes two master pickpockets initiating a fresh faced young apprentice into the secret art of invisible theft. The film is shot in an underground room, a hidden place where you witness what the Surrealists termed the 'beauty of the perfect crime' unfold before you.
Whilst the viewer may admire the skill of these thieves and are seduced by their charisma, the actuality of the crime imparts a feeling of uneasiness. Akin to the members of the public who are invited to the training session to 'play' the role of the victim, the viewers of the film are placed in a position of contradiction, between fascination and repulsion.
For the voyeur of this staged ritual, everything seems to be smoothly choreographed whereas, in reality, the act is seditious and opportunistic. Following the movements of the protagonists closely with his camera, the artist, with unobtrusive editing, reflects on the banality and artificiality of this lesson in what one of the thieves' terms "the work of an artist".
A video between fiction and reality.
documentation
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Royal Itineraries. Interview with Sven Augustijnen
06/09/2006 -
Disbelief as a medium - Francesco Manacorda (Sven Augustijnen) (Engels)
06/03/2006 -
PANORAMA
SAugustijnen_PANORAMA.pdf
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Pick up & pass off
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The Index of Truth
Sven Augustijnen
T: 02/648.47.10
M: 0498/42.29.38
E: svenaugustijnen@yahoo.com
W: www.janmot.com, www.augusteort...
W: www.argosarts.org...
1050 Brussel, België
