Arts Centre Vooruit, Ghent, Belgium

PABLO VALBUENA - N 51º2’50” E 3º43’42”

(c) Reinout Hiel

If you visited the Almost Cinema exhibition last year, you’ll remember the light show at the Candy Shop (the building right next to Vooruit). The way Spanish artist Pablo Valbuena managed to change the space with a few well-aimed light beams was pure magic. A laser beam scanned the room, like a scanner measuring the surface. The light beams redrew the walls, 2D surfaces were given volume and transformed before your eyes… Vooruit visitor Britt wrote the following on www.vooruit.be: “An impressive show of light and space, in which light sometimes confirmed the space but also broke out of it and created the illusion of a new space.”

This year, the Spanish architect and artist will return for an even more spectacular project. Especially for Almost Cinema, Valbuena will create a light sculpture on the back of the Offices of the Ghent University Rector, next to Vooruit’s rear façade. The light projection was custom-made for the building and incorporates all windows, walls and corners. An impressive and breathtaking work.

www.pablovalbuena.com

With thanks to Lightfestival Ghent, Barco and XL Video

BRAM VREVEN – SPIN

Another artist you’ll remember from last year’s exhibition is young Belgian talent Bram Vreven. Last time, you could see ‘Rays’, a row of six whirring spirals, at the Vooruit Box Office. At this edition he will present his newest work ‘Spin’. Movement is once again a very important part of this installation: several screens show a spinning mass of colourful spirals that all spin at the same time, or slightly faster or slower. Chaos and order. How is this visual feast created? Is it abstract or open to interpretation? In any case, ‘Spin’, like all of Vreven’s creations, shows similarities with contemporary dance, music, nature, technology, science and common factors rhythm, order, chaos and flowing or non-flowing movement.

www.bramvreven.com

Bram Vreven (concept, performance, choreography), Johan van Kreij (programming), Sukandar Kartadinata (elektronica), Rene Bakker (mechanics)

Produced by TAG / Co-produced by Kunstencentrum Vooruit / SPIN received funding from the Fonds voor Beeldende Kunsten, Vormgeving en Bouwkunst / Stroom Den Haag / Preliminary research in association with the University of Twente / With thanks to Jo Scherpenisse, MC Technology, Eurocircuits

ZIMOUN – PREPARED DC-MOTORS IN CARDBOARD BOXES

(c) Zimoun

Especially for Almost Cinema, Zimoun has developed a new sound installation which puts the spotlight on a set of cardboard boxes. Each box is driven by a tiny engine, which generates all sorts of sounds and vibrations. He uses the boxes as a source of sound and explores their resonance abilities. Each of them constitutes a small brick in a complex sound structure. Zimoun likes to explore the tension between artificial and organic, between simple systems and complex patterns of sound and movement. He is also keen to experiment with the relation between sound and space, as well as looking for poetry in mechanics.

http://zimoun.ch

With the support of Pro Helvetia – Swiss Arts Council, KulturStadtBern, SWISSLOS / Kultur Kanton Bern.

KERSTIN ERGENZINGER – STUDIEN.ZUR.SEHNSUCHT

An ocean made out of rubber waves, large fish, a living organ, a sleeping mass, a futuristic landscape… Everyone has their own interpretation of Kerstin Ergenzinger’s ‘Studien.zur.Sehnsucht’/Studies.for.Longing/Seeing. The installation consists of several grey sheets that are spread across the room, on and next to each other. Now and then, they seem to move, as if they were breathing. A seismograph which measures the movements of the earth, but also those of visitors, determines the rhythm of the machine’s pulsations. Ergenzinger herself calls ‘Studien.zur.Sehnsucht the “longing machine”. Because even though it’s a machine, the installation is also tender, poignant even. Ergenzinger feels that the piece illustrates the human desire for stability.

www.nodegree.de

in cooperation with Thom Laepple / production support: Stefan Niermann igus GmbH, Katie Uhl Dynalloy Inc. & Claudia Röhricht Trocellen GmbH

WIM JANSSEN - STATIC

When we hear the word pixel, we think of a computer screen. ‘Static’, however, consists of handmade “pixels”: i.e. 43000 small, handmade surfaces that Wim Janssen has used to cover a wall. But it’s the colour filter placed on a tripod in front of the wall that makes the installation so magical. If you look through the rotating filter, it’s as if you’re looking at snow on a TV. The black and white particles dance before your eyes in every pattern you ever dreamed of.

www.werktank.org/w.cgi

Co-produced by WERKTANK / With the support of Vlaamse Overheid

IEF SPINCEMAILLE - REVERSED BLINKING

Imagine that you could take a picture with your eyes… Thanks to Ief Spincemaille’s ‘Reversed Blinking’, you can! The machine is worn like a pair of glasses, with two tiny flaps in front of your which open and close really quickly. A brief snapshot of what you see is paused. Passing cars, moving people, a bird flying by, etc. It’s as if the world has come to a standstill. It’s not virtual reality that wants to make you believe it’s real, but the real world that is turned into a photograph just for you.

www.iefspincemaille.com

Just like Wim Janssen, Ief Spincemaille works at the WERKTANK. He is also active in stage production and previously made video sculptures for ‘Wolfskers’ by Guy Cassiers / Toneelhuis and for the ‘Romeinse Tragedies’ by Ivo Van Hove / Toneelgroep Amsterdam

Co-produced by WERKTANK / With the support of Vlaamse Overheid

CREW – BOLSCAN

How they do it remains a mystery, but Crew manages to create an entirely new world with each performance and installation. Aided by the newest technology and virtual reality, they take visitors on a trip through an alternative reality. During Almost Cinema, CREW will present their new installation, ‘Bolscan’, which consists of 6 screens that are installed on top of each other in a crescent. Together, these screens show one picture that forms one fragment of the total 360° picture. By moving the screens manually, visitors get to see different parts of the sphere. As a visitor, you’re literally at the centre of an alternative reality, standing in the core of a globe.

www.crewonline.org

Artistical management CREW, concept & film: Eric Joris / technological development: Philippe Bekaert (EDM, Universiteit Hasselt) & Vincent Jacobs / Film: Eric Joris &n Brecht Debackere / Technical support : Koen Goossens

With the support of Vooruit, Gent & Vlaamse Gemeenschapscommissie, Brussel / CREW ontvangt structurele subsidie van het Ministerie van Cultuur van de Vlaamse Gemeenschap