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Sybren Vanoverberghe

Conference of the Birds

Feature
Sybren Vanoverberghe
Conference of the Birds
Conference of the Birds shows an outtake from an analysis of the correlation between time and place and of the historical landscape of Iran. How do places appear and disappear? How do we attach meaning to a certain site and in what way photography can deal with deconstructed icons in comparison to the (a-)historical palm tree sticking its tongue out towards the straight forward photographed Iranian landscape.

You see composed images of desolated ruins, artefacts and cultural heritage sites. A brick ‘Tower of Babel’, sensual forms of nature, stones and the desert in all its emptiness. Besides these photographs we also see the decor of a palm tree village. Here the photographs move in closer to the landscape in comparison to the other places documented. The village is small and serene. Palm trees appear all over the place, they are burned, bend, dry and dead. They resemble the same as the portrayed pillars and artefacts that are left behind on various historical sites and can be associated to land art installations.

The small desert village has been photographed obsessively and captured from every angle possible. Elements are positioned in the frame so that they are repeated in the next frame. The ruined facade recurs, the bend palms recur, the same lightning and the mountains in the background as well.
photo by Joselito Verschaeve
photo by Joselito Verschaeve

Sybren Vanoverberghe

Sybren Vanoverberghe (°1996, Kortrijk) is an artist based in Ghent, Belgium. The work of Vanoverberghe shows the landscape in a constant state of change. The correlation between place and time is shown in images where history, nature and heritage collide into each other. The photographs of Vanoverberghe have been made at places with historical importance as well as at ordinary sites. In his work questions are raised regarding the importance of icons. His work is showing presets of existing structures confronted with what can be seen as artefacts of the future. There’s no chronological order in the work of Vanoverberghe, certain images represent a past that has never existed. In his books, Vanoverberghe often works around the cyclical aspect of certain sites that are no longer geographically situated. The work provides hypothetical questions that go back and forth in time in an equal measure. When can an image be seen as a document of the past and when can it be seen as a prophecy for the future? There is a constant tension between accepting images that are seen as documents of the past and denying images that are seen as prophecies for the future. Vanoverberghe his work has been published in books such as ‘2099’ (2018) and ‘Conference of the Birds’ (2019) by APE (Art Paper Editions). He has received the ‘Prix Horlait Dapsens’ and is part of the ‘.tiff’ selection by FOMU Antwerp. He had exhibitions at Stieglitz19 (Antwerp, Belgium), the Unseen Photo Fair (Amsterdam, the Netherlands), the Cultural Centre of Yangzhou (China) and collaborated with fashion brand Ann Demeulemeester. His work has been published on American Suburb X, Photoworks UK, De Standaard, Paper Journal, De Volkskrant, GUP Magazine and the PHmuseum. He co-founded artist run spaces Pinguin (Brussels, Belgium) and NO/Gallery (Ghent, Belgium).

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