ECHTZEIT
Dirk Braeckman
- Dirk Braeckman (BE, °1958) has explored the medium of photography in sombre/dark and understated images, for over 40 years
- Published to accompany the solo exhibition ECHTZEIT at FoMu, Antwerp 28 March 2024 to 19 January 2025
- Braeckman appropriates the pieces from the vernacular collection of the FOMU and the viewer experiences them through the artist’s camera, eyes and hands
- Braeckman creates enigmatic and tactile photographs that obscure their subject in order to emphasise materiality of the print
- Braeckman’s dark room is a field of experimentation where the artist manipulates the negative, working with light, re-photography and chemicals, but also revealing influences of chance and time. Freedom and spontaneity become essential notions in his creative process
- Braeckman expands the photographic medium to the point where it becomes akin to the practice of the painter or sculptor
ECHTZEIT is made in collaboration with Dirk Braeckman (BE, °1958) and FOMU Antwerp in line with his impacting solo show with the Collections department of the photo museum. Echtzeit offers a unique glimpse into Dirk Braeckman’s most recent photographs, accompanied with the museum’s collection and texts written by Clément Chéroux, director of the Foundation Henri Cartier-Bresson and Tamara Berghmans, curator of the exhibition.
Braeckman has chosen from the FOMU collection functional photographs, made without artistic ambition. He recognised certain qualities and commonalities with his own work in these atypical images.
Re-photography and experimentation have always formed part of Braeckman’s artistic practice, though the trajectory to the final image is always different. For the FOMU exhibition, he worked for the first time with an existing collection of photos. Braeckman took photos of the chosen images and printed them. He then over-painted, smeared or cut holes in the prints. He photographed the results and processed them further in his analogue and digital darkroom.
The original meaning of the photographs has been altered through the removal of context, the change in format and the addition of titles. A functional document is transformed into a piece of art, a timeless visual poem that raises more questions than it answers.
‘Echtzeit’ refers to Braeckman’s bridging of the past and present.
Text in English, French and Dutch.
- Publisher
- HOPPER&FUCHS
- ISBN
- 9789464002331
- Publish date
- 1st Feb 2025
- Binding
- Paperback / softback
- Territory
- World excluding Belgium, France, Holland & Luxembourg
- Size
- 300 mm x 240 mm
- Pages
- 240 Pages
- Illustrations
- 140 color
Distributed by ACC Art Books
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