WARMENHOVEN & VENDERBOS Blog » Idea

Aristotle on art, conceptual layers and inner value

W&V — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 12:30:16 +0000

Quote about art from Greek philosopher Aristotle which can especially be considered as an early statement about conceptual art and design as it addresses directly the core principle of a conceptual design approach and the resulting physical product and its inner value, meaning and significance.

The Greek philosopher and polymath Aristotle was a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoölogy. Together with Plato and Plato’s teacher Socrates, Aristotle is one of the most important founding figures in Western philosophy.

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David Hume on Beauty

W&V — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 11:30:18 +0000

David Hume was a Scottish philosopher, historian, economist, and essayist, known especially for his philosophical empiricism and skepticism. He is regarded as one of the most important figures in the history of Western philosophy and the Scottish Enlightenment.
Beginning with his A Treatise of Human Nature (1739), Hume strove to create a total naturalistic “science of man” that examined the psychological basis of human nature. In stark opposition to the rationalists who preceded him, most notably Descartes, he concluded that desire rather than reason governed human behaviour, saying: “Reason is, and ought only to be the slave of the passions.”

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Henri Bergson on sex appeal

W&V — Tue, 31 May 2011 11:30:10 +0000

Henri Louis Bergson was a major French philosopher, influential especially in the first half of the 20th century. Bergson convinced many thinkers that immediate experience and intuition are more significant than rationalism and science for understanding reality. He was awarded the 1927 Nobel Prize in Literature “in recognition of his rich and vitalizing ideas and the brilliant skill with which they have been presented.

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Marcel Broodthaers | The Marcel Broodthaers cabinet

W&V — Fri, 20 May 2011 11:30:16 +0000

MARCEL | The Marcel Broodthaers cabinet is a proposal to present the oeuvre of artist Marcel Broodthaers in the S.M.A.K. museum. The increasing significance of Broodthaers’ work as part of the collection gradually led to the idea of giving this oeuvre a permanent place in the museum. A place where the Broodthaers collection would not only be displayed, but also documented and set in a specific framework. Not as a monument or mausoleum in which the work is enclosed, but more like an intimate setting where encounters can take place and where Broodthaers’ work can be studied. To achieve this, in 2006 the museum held a competition in which three architects were asked to come up with a design for the project. The proposal ultimately selected was by architecten de vylder vinck taillieu. Their design devotes plenty of attention to Broodthaers’ work, but it combines it with the ease and practicality of a study centre. In terms of its form, the design clearly refers to the display cabinet, which Broodthaers used a great deal. This gallery is located on the boundary between the museum and the Floralia Hall behind it. This is also where the exhibition entitled MARCEL/Het Broodthaerskabinet will be held.
The exhibition in the Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst, Gent Belgium will run until the 5Th of June 2011.

Photos by: S.M.A.K. – Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst | Marcel Broodthaers |

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Diary 070511

W&V — Wed, 11 May 2011 11:30:29 +0000

Designer diary photo (snapshots) entry | Autumn Winter 2011|2012 collection and press shots.

WARMENHOVEN & VENDERBOS | Diary 070511

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Verbeke Gallery Avantgarde Art Exhibition | Martin uit den Bogaard

W&V — Mon, 09 May 2011 11:00:18 +0000

The Verbeke Foundation opened recently, next to their fascinating large exhibition space at Kemzeke, also a gallery in Antwerp Belgium .
On the 12th of may 2011 a solo exhibition of avantagarde artist Martin uit den Bogaard will open at this Verbeke Gallery.
Martin uit den Bogaard is an artist who has been working for years with organic material in the shape of plants and animal tissue. He follows the decomposition process that takes place inside of glass “coffins” with photos, film and other electronic devices. One example of his astonishing work is the “Singing” series. In this series he measures the ENVI-voltage which is still in a cadaver and translates that fluctuations through a computer in picture and sound. The voice that you hear is higher or lower as the milti-voltage changes.

Solo Exhibition Martin uit den Boogaard:
Opening 12.05.2011, 18:00 o’clock
Performance 12.05.2011, 20:00 o’clock
Verbeke Gallery Antwerp.

Read also earlier posted articles about the Verbeke Foundation on the Warmenhoven & Venderbos Blog: Diary 250910 | Verbeke Foundation and Diary 061210 | Vernissage Verbeke Foundation November 2010.

Photos by Martin uit den Bogaard Collection Verbeke Foundation | Verbeke Foundation website | Verbeke Gallery website

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Felice Varini | Point of view

W&V — Thu, 05 May 2011 11:30:55 +0000

Felice Varini was born in 1952 in Locarno, Switzerland. and currently lives in Paris. He creates fascinating optical art.
His field of action is architectural and urban space and everything that constitutes such spaces. These spaces are and remain the original media for his painting. He works “on site”, each time in a different space and his work develops itself in relation to the spaces he encounters. The paintings are characterized by geometric shapes and by a single vantage point from which the viewer can see the complete painting, while various ‘broken’ fragmented shapes are seen from various other view points.

Felice Varini about his work:

“I generally roam through the space noting its architecture, materials, history and function. From these spatial data and in reference to the last piece I produced, I designate a specific vantage point for viewing from which my intervention takes shape.

The vantage point is carefully chosen: it is generally situated at my eye level and located preferably along an inevitable route, for instance an aperture between one room and another, a landing… I do not, however, make a rule out of this, for all spaces do not systematically possess an evident line. It is often an arbitrary choice. The vantage point will function as a reading point, that is to say, as a potential starting point to approaching painting and space.

The painted form achieves its coherence when the viewer stands at the vantage point.When he* moves out of it, the work meets with space generating infinite vantage points on the form. It is not therefore through this original vantage point that I see the work achieved; it takes place in the set of vantage points the viewer can have on it.

If I establish a particular relation to architectural features that influence the installation shape, my work still preserves its independence whatever architectural spaces I encounter. I start from an actual situation to construct my painting. Reality is never altered, erased or modified, it interests and seduces me in all its complexity. I work “here and now”.”

Photos by: Felice Varini | Video by: Christophe Loizillon | Felice Varini website

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Fashion quote | Epictetus on identity, look and dressing up

W&V — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 11:47:24 +0000

Epictetus was a Greek philosopher. The Philosophy, he taught, is a way of life and not just a theoretical discipline. To Epictetus, all external events are determined by fate, and are thus beyond our control, but we can accept whatever happens calmly and dispassionately. Individuals, however, are responsible for their own actions, which they can examine and control through rigorous self-discipline. Suffering arises from trying to control what is uncontrollable, or from neglecting what is within our power. As part of the universal city that is the universe, human beings have a duty to care for all fellow humans. The person who followed these precepts would achieve happiness and peace of mind according to Epictetus.

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Sacha Goldberger | So’Chic | 70 years series

W&V — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 13:47:58 +0000

French photographer Sacha Goldberger has shot a fascinating series where he features his grandmother Mamika next to the younger model Therese. In this series he tries to capture the concept of the development in time and the evolution of personality of the same person in a time span of 70 years. The series touches topics and concepts like the energy of youth, ageless beauty, style, identity, experience and maturity of life.

Photos: Sacha Goldberger | Sacha Goldberger website

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Book | Thoughts on dreams | analogic hyperlinks

W&V — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 23:35:20 +0000

Maria Fisher is a German artist. For her final project at the University of Augsberg, she was tasked with designing and creating a book on the subject of dreams. She created the book “Traumgedanken” (“Thoughts on dreams”) with threaded, analogical hyperlinks woven into the pages of the book, connecting key words of the various philosophical, literary, psychological and scientific theories of dreams. The goal of the project was to create a book that not only informed, but also captured the same elusive and temporal quality of the dream state.

This is why it is designed as a model of a dream about dreaming. Analogue to a dream, where pieces of reality are assembled to build a story, it brings different text excerpts together. On five pages there are illustrations made out of thread. Their shape and colour relies on the key words on the opposite page. This way an abstract image of the dream about dreaming is generated.

Traumgedanken is a fascinating piece of conceptual design and writing.

Photos and source: Maria Fisher | Maria Fisher website

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