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ELS OPSOMER
Els Opsomer was born in 1968, lives and works in Brussels. A video artist, photographer and graphic designer, her constantly expanding archive of urban images, together with textual commentary, is a reinterpretation of our globalised reality, exposing and challenging the notion of personal integrity within it. She was a resident at the Rijksakademie Amsterdam (1996-1998), and has received the awards Courtisane (2007) and the Jeune Peinture Belge (1997). She is co-founder of Mondophrenetic™ (multimedia installation) and author of artist books Time Suspended (2004), Be my guest ... forever (2005), and Wrapped (2000). Her artwork is part of the E-flux video archive and has been featured in magazines like Parachute, SiteMagazine, CameraAustria and AS. Her recent solo shows include “Loop Videoart” (Barcelona, 2007), “Shadows and Snow”, Erna Hecey Gallery (Brussels), “_imovie [1-2-3]_”, MACs Grand Hornu, “Time Suspended”, Kunsthall, (Bergen, Norway), “Witte de With” (Rotterdam, Amsterdam, 2004-2005). She lectures at ENSAV La Cambre, Brussels. Shades Of Survival/Around Me [for AKM]
Homage to the Honecker Palast, Berlin, Martini Tower, Brussels, and everything we would like to forget.
Els Opsomer installs a research table where she presents a slide show, images and books that question the fate of AKM. At present the proposal to demolish the AKM is a controversial issue since it once stood for the utopia of Modern Turkey. Opsomer is interested in how architecture captures the contemporary zeitgeist and how we deal with the idea of utopia today. Her approach bears affinities with the non-lieux described by sociologist Marc Augé, and she uses architectural images to explore the state of mind of a community. The table in Ýstanbul symbolises the necessity of reflection and the need for sober analysis in difficult subjects. It enables the visitor to sit around the table and engage in free questioning. During her stays in conflict zones such as Bosnia-Herzegovina, Palestine and Azerbaijan, Opsomer experienced how conflicts amplify the creative process as a last-ditch survival strategy. Paradoxically, hope and optimism were omnipresent although reality told a very different story. She associates leftovers from another time with the disenchantment of the present and looks if this can help to grasp a complex reality. Her visual essays provide comfort and comprehension in painful matters.
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