Dirk Braeckman

2001

Photography, 180 X 120 cm.
Materials: silver gelatine print, aluminium

Collection: Collection M HKA, Antwerp (Inv. no. BK7264).

Unusual cropping in this series means that several of the objects are only partly shown, or not at all. The overall feeling is ominous, although there is no visible trace of any threat. The experience is an internal one. Braeckman says: ‘When you reduce everything it comes straight at you. Sex, death. I know it sounds like a narrow cliché, but you have to dare admit that that’s what it’s about. That power and destructiveness of it, the feeling and the anti-feeling: it certainly remains an underlying layer in my work. However much it may be below the surface. Remarkably enough, in my work it has a lot to do with the cropping. The fact that you don’t see certain things, or that you do.’

About M HKA / Mission Statement

The M HKA is a museum for contemporary art, film and visual culture in its widest sense. It is an open place of encounter for art, artists and the public. The M HKA aspires to play a leading role in Flanders and to extend its international profile by building upon Antwerp's avant-garde tradition. The M HKA bridges the relationship between artistic questions and wider societal issues, between the international and the regional, artists and public, tradition and innovation, reflection and presentation. Central here is the museum's collection with its ongoing acquisitions, as well as related areas of management and research.

About M HKA Ensembles

The M HKA Ensembles represent our first steps towards initiating the public to today's art-related digital landscape. With the help of these new media, our aim is to offer our artworks a better and fuller array of support for their presentation and public understanding.