M HKA Ensembles

° 1974

Born in Brussel (BE).

Michael Van den Abeele (°1974, Brussels, Belgium) makes drawings, photographs, installations, sculptures and videos. Space, territory and imaginary geographies are the main topics in his formally diverse work. In the universe created by the artist, the human figure is central. He is fascinated by geographical conditioning. Based on apparently minor interventions, he wants to map and question the way humans are determined by their environment. He investigates the way in which people and objects interact, and confronts his spectators in experimental settings.

His work cannot be grasped in a single glance. The works are often characterised by a high degree of mystery. He problematises the position of the individual within larger units. He studies the communication and the defects within, the exchange and the relationship. The individual works he executes in a variety of media gain strength through subtle presentations. Within that context, they function as fragments of ideas that reinforce and deepen each other and each time engage in different relationships. Michaël Van den Abeele creates another world, a world in which other laws of nature rule and determine our standards. With simple, subtle interventions, he changes everything, undermining the action of reference points. He works for example with the principle of photographic doubling of the sun or the moon, or he repeats a sculptural act so often that a new abstract image appears in sight. He creates a desire for the viewers to contain the given relationships in space and time, but leaves them stranded because of the inability to fully realise it.