Hans Op de Beeck: Sea of Tranquillity

Multi-disciplinary artist Hans Op de Beeck creates interworlds. Suspended between past and future, fiction and reality, his works sound out a mirage-like contemporary universe and a sensory vertigo where the familiar rubs shoulders with the strange. From installation to sculpture, from video to animated film, from short stories to painting and drawing, from photography to sound material, the media he employs seem to converge on the definition of a topos: a mental theatre that projects the viewer into a reflexive social and cultural experience, the intimate thinking of the human condition. —Eva Prouteau

"Sea of Tranquillity" is the name of a fictional cruise liner created by the artist, which serves as a metaphor for our modern attitude to time and space, our interpretation of the concepts of work and leisure, and, finally, the way in which we deal with our mortality. As such, it has a complex and poetic charge, but also presents a touch of irony regarding the superficial, safe and unimaginative leisure opportunities that are on offer on board the ship.

As a whole, the exhibition is articulated in a museographic setting: a form of narrative emerges, a scenography of memory, an immersive voyage dedicated to an enigmatic floating legend. The exhibition includes a film projection, a monumental model of the ship, various sculptural works and large black and white watercolour paintings. The short film, mixing live actors and 3D environments, virtually plunges the viewer into the cavernous, strange and menacing cruise liner as it softly cleaves the night.

Launched at Le Grand Café in Saint-Nazaire, the exhibition Sea of tranquillity then voyages to Belgium (ARGOS, Centre for Art & Media, Brussels, 22 January (opening) – 2 April 2011), to Switzerland (Kunstmuseum Thun, Thun, 10 June (opening) – 4 September 2011) and to Spain (Centro de Arte, Burgos, 10 June (opening) – 4 September 2011).

Sea of tranquillity received the appreciated support of the National Centre for Visual Arts - Ministry of Culture and Communication (F), the Flanders Audiovisual Fund (B), Le Fresnoy - National Studio for Contemporary Arts (F), the Flemish authorities (B), Emmanuelle and Michael Guttman, Xavier Hufkens and Galleria Continua.

Hans Op de Beeck was born in Turnhout (Belgium) in 1969. He lives and works in Brussels. Recent exhibitions include Aichi Triennale (2010); Hangar Bicocca, Milan (2010); Galleria Borghese (solo, 2009); Galleria Continua, Beijing (solo, 2009); Art Unlimited, Basel (2009, 2007, 2004); Singapore Biennale (2008); Centraal Museum, Utrecht (solo, 2007).

Hans Op de Beeck
Sea of Tranquillity
Kurator: Sophie Legrandjacques