Sybren Vanoverberghe (°1996, Kortrijk) is an artist based in Ghent, Belgium. His work explores an outlook on historical places and images of (collective) remembrance. Deconstructed places and manipulated icons are working on an associative basis to create a new overview of the present. His work is based on the constant rise and fall of places and the cyclical character of history. Recurring motifs in his works are elements of history, nature, myths, human legacy and an apocalyptic atmosphere. The documentary character of an image is less important compared to the demystification of the subject photographed, as well as the visual representation of the images that sometimes makes the jump to photographs that seem to be taken of land art installations.
Vanoverberghe is currently following the Master programme in photography at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Ghent, Belgium. His first book ¡Pírate! was self-published in 2017 and his latest work 2099 has been published in 2018 by Belgian publisher Art Paper Editions. Vanoverberghe had solo exhibitions at Jest in Turin (2017), RIOT Gallery (2018) and Stieglitz 19 (2018). Since 2017 he is the co-founder of Pinguin, a project space showing art based on the medium of photography in Brussels and since 2018 he is the co-founder of NO/ Gallery in Ghent, BE.
‘’Does history repeat itself in voluminous cycles of war, changing borders, political ideologies or does it exist at all? Perhaps history is not only fabricated by the winners but also by the principal that we are not of an evolutionary make and that our reality is based on the presets of existing structures of form governed by the oncoming and none too distant future thus rendering what we believe is our past-our symbiotic struggles with terrain, each other and ideology completely irrelevant and false; a narrative beseeched by pre-programmed compulsory “human” need and relative exchange of communication and implied belief that “A” if any past best defines our coagulated and symptomatic present. What I do believe is that we exist in images and that the images themselves have no chronological reference point that bears reality to our perhaps simulated present. We must let the possibility weigh in that the ionic columns so gracelessly shattered and toothpicked to the ground in Athens are nothing but a code and vector in which the agreed upon image of the column represents a past that never existed. This is very possible. Technology, in philosophical terms does not deem the present clear and does not deem the past at all. It is consistent in providing an idea of “progress”, the word itself given over to the governance of “future”.’’
By Brad Feuerhelm for American Suburb X
Represented by Stieglitz 19
Available for collaborations.
Solo & Duo Exhibitions
2019 – TBA , MAP#94, Ghent, BE [opening 28.03.19]
2018 – Solo of 2099, Stieglitz 19, Antwerp, BE
2018 – Solo of 2099, Riot Gallery, Ghent, BE
2017 – Duo of 2099 x Ilan Weiss, Pinguin #01, Brussels, BE
2017 – Solo of 2099, JEST Gallery, Turin, IT
Selected Group Exhibitions
2019 – Carrara, Zwarte Zaal, Ghent, BE [upcoming in February]
2019 – Tussen Droom en Daad, Zwarte Zaal, Ghent, BE [opening 17.01.19]
2018 – From Infinity to Beyond – BredaPhoto – Botanique, Breda, NL
2018 – Art Actuel – Mesnil Eglise, BE
2018 – Iconobelge – Antwerp Photo – Antwerp, BE
2018 – In Between Shores AIR - Daverio, IT
2018 – The Sky Opens Twice – JEST - Turin, IT
2018 – The Photobook Exhibition by Athens PhotoFestival – Benaki Museum, Athens, GR
2018 – Best Photobook Shortlist by PhotoEspãna – Biblioteca Nacional de España, Madrid, ES
2018 – Books Made Public, Art Cinema OFFoff, Ghent, BE
2018 – 1 Plus 1 – Lindenlei Nucleo – Ghent, BE
2018 – Musée de la Fotografie de Bruxelles – Recyclart – Brussels, BE
2017 – Turn/Return – Brugge Photo – Bogardenkapel – Bruges, BE
2017 – Land van Fotografie, Ghent, BE
2017 – Thread Count, Der Greif, Unseen Photo Fair, Amsterdam, NL
2017 – Twens, Leuven, BE
2017 – See You When The Sun Sets East, Nest, Ghent, BE
2017 – ¡Pírate!, Indian Photo Festival, Hyderabad, IN
2016 – Fotoforum Brasschaat, Brasschaat, BE
Monographs
2019 – Birds No Longer Sing [TBA, September]
2018 – 2099, Sybren Vanoverberghe, Art Paper Editions, Belgium, ISBN 9789490800758
2017 – ¡Pírate!, Sybren Vanoverberghe, Self Published in Co-Lab with TopoCopy, Belgium
Catalogues
2018 – BredaPhoto, Breda, NL
2017 – Land Van Fotografie, Ghent, BE
Selected Publications
2018 – American Suburb X (US)
2018 – De Standaard (BE)
2018 – The Word (BE)
2018 – Paper Journal (UK)
2018 – GUP Magazine (NL)
2018 – Subbacultcha (BE)
2018 – The Heavy Collective (AUS)
2018 – Phroom (IT)
2018 – Self Publish Be Happy (UK)
2018 – Belgian Platform For Photobooks (BE)
2018 – Aint-Bad (US)
2018 – Phases (GR)
2017 – The Plantation Journal (UK)
2017 – Lenscratch (US)
2017 – De Morgen (BE)
2017 – Josef Chladek (AT)
2017 – New Dawn (NL)
2017 – Phases (GR)
2017 – The Latent Image (US)
2017 – Splash and Grab (UK)
2017 – Mull it Over (US)
2016 – Blood of the Young (US)
Awards & Residencies
2018 – Nomination for the BILL Award, Brussels, BE
2018 – In Between Shores Residency – Ardesia Projects, Jest & Witty Kiwi – Daverio, IT
2018 – Shortlist Best Photobook, PhotoEspaña, Biblioteca Nacional de España, Madrid, ES
2016 – Finalist, ¡Pírate!, De Donkere Kamer, C-Mine, Genk, BE
Talks & Interviews
2018 – Artist Talk, BredaPhoto, Breda, NL
2018 – Artist Talk, Rolling Paper, Le Bal, Paris, FR
2018 – Interview w/Stefan Vanthuyne for Belgian Platform of Photobooks, Antwerp, BE
2018 – Ardesia Projects AIR - Daverio, IT
2018 – Urbanautica, by Dieter Debruyne, IT
2018 – Extra Fort, Tipi Bookshop, Brussels, BE
2017 – The Plantation Journal, by Joanna Crasswell, GB
Education
2019 – MA Photo at The Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Ghent, BE
2018 – Intern at Akina Books, Istanbul, TR
2015 – Assistant for Thomas Sweertvaegher, Ghent, BE
2014 – 2017 BA Photo at The Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Ghent, BE
Collective Projects
2018 – Co-Founder of N/O Gallery , Ghent, BE
2017 – Co-Founder of Pinguin Project Space , Brussels, BE
Commissioned Work & Collaborations
2019 – Ann Demeulemeester [Launch at Paris Fashion week, 19.01.19]
Collections
Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Ghent, BE
Private collections in Belgium & The Netherlands
Vanoverberghe is currently following the Master programme in photography at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Ghent, Belgium. His first book ¡Pírate! was self-published in 2017 and his latest work 2099 has been published in 2018 by Belgian publisher Art Paper Editions. Vanoverberghe had solo exhibitions at Jest in Turin (2017), RIOT Gallery (2018) and Stieglitz 19 (2018). Since 2017 he is the co-founder of Pinguin, a project space showing art based on the medium of photography in Brussels and since 2018 he is the co-founder of NO/ Gallery in Ghent, BE.
‘’Does history repeat itself in voluminous cycles of war, changing borders, political ideologies or does it exist at all? Perhaps history is not only fabricated by the winners but also by the principal that we are not of an evolutionary make and that our reality is based on the presets of existing structures of form governed by the oncoming and none too distant future thus rendering what we believe is our past-our symbiotic struggles with terrain, each other and ideology completely irrelevant and false; a narrative beseeched by pre-programmed compulsory “human” need and relative exchange of communication and implied belief that “A” if any past best defines our coagulated and symptomatic present. What I do believe is that we exist in images and that the images themselves have no chronological reference point that bears reality to our perhaps simulated present. We must let the possibility weigh in that the ionic columns so gracelessly shattered and toothpicked to the ground in Athens are nothing but a code and vector in which the agreed upon image of the column represents a past that never existed. This is very possible. Technology, in philosophical terms does not deem the present clear and does not deem the past at all. It is consistent in providing an idea of “progress”, the word itself given over to the governance of “future”.’’
By Brad Feuerhelm for American Suburb X
Represented by Stieglitz 19
Available for collaborations.
Solo & Duo Exhibitions
2019 – TBA , MAP#94, Ghent, BE [opening 28.03.19]
2018 – Solo of 2099, Stieglitz 19, Antwerp, BE
2018 – Solo of 2099, Riot Gallery, Ghent, BE
2017 – Duo of 2099 x Ilan Weiss, Pinguin #01, Brussels, BE
2017 – Solo of 2099, JEST Gallery, Turin, IT
Selected Group Exhibitions
2019 – Carrara, Zwarte Zaal, Ghent, BE [upcoming in February]
2019 – Tussen Droom en Daad, Zwarte Zaal, Ghent, BE [opening 17.01.19]
2018 – From Infinity to Beyond – BredaPhoto – Botanique, Breda, NL
2018 – Art Actuel – Mesnil Eglise, BE
2018 – Iconobelge – Antwerp Photo – Antwerp, BE
2018 – In Between Shores AIR - Daverio, IT
2018 – The Sky Opens Twice – JEST - Turin, IT
2018 – The Photobook Exhibition by Athens PhotoFestival – Benaki Museum, Athens, GR
2018 – Best Photobook Shortlist by PhotoEspãna – Biblioteca Nacional de España, Madrid, ES
2018 – Books Made Public, Art Cinema OFFoff, Ghent, BE
2018 – 1 Plus 1 – Lindenlei Nucleo – Ghent, BE
2018 – Musée de la Fotografie de Bruxelles – Recyclart – Brussels, BE
2017 – Turn/Return – Brugge Photo – Bogardenkapel – Bruges, BE
2017 – Land van Fotografie, Ghent, BE
2017 – Thread Count, Der Greif, Unseen Photo Fair, Amsterdam, NL
2017 – Twens, Leuven, BE
2017 – See You When The Sun Sets East, Nest, Ghent, BE
2017 – ¡Pírate!, Indian Photo Festival, Hyderabad, IN
2016 – Fotoforum Brasschaat, Brasschaat, BE
Monographs
2019 – Birds No Longer Sing [TBA, September]
2018 – 2099, Sybren Vanoverberghe, Art Paper Editions, Belgium, ISBN 9789490800758
2017 – ¡Pírate!, Sybren Vanoverberghe, Self Published in Co-Lab with TopoCopy, Belgium
Catalogues
2018 – BredaPhoto, Breda, NL
2017 – Land Van Fotografie, Ghent, BE
Selected Publications
2018 – American Suburb X (US)
2018 – De Standaard (BE)
2018 – The Word (BE)
2018 – Paper Journal (UK)
2018 – GUP Magazine (NL)
2018 – Subbacultcha (BE)
2018 – The Heavy Collective (AUS)
2018 – Phroom (IT)
2018 – Self Publish Be Happy (UK)
2018 – Belgian Platform For Photobooks (BE)
2018 – Aint-Bad (US)
2018 – Phases (GR)
2017 – The Plantation Journal (UK)
2017 – Lenscratch (US)
2017 – De Morgen (BE)
2017 – Josef Chladek (AT)
2017 – New Dawn (NL)
2017 – Phases (GR)
2017 – The Latent Image (US)
2017 – Splash and Grab (UK)
2017 – Mull it Over (US)
2016 – Blood of the Young (US)
Awards & Residencies
2018 – Nomination for the BILL Award, Brussels, BE
2018 – In Between Shores Residency – Ardesia Projects, Jest & Witty Kiwi – Daverio, IT
2018 – Shortlist Best Photobook, PhotoEspaña, Biblioteca Nacional de España, Madrid, ES
2016 – Finalist, ¡Pírate!, De Donkere Kamer, C-Mine, Genk, BE
Talks & Interviews
2018 – Artist Talk, BredaPhoto, Breda, NL
2018 – Artist Talk, Rolling Paper, Le Bal, Paris, FR
2018 – Interview w/Stefan Vanthuyne for Belgian Platform of Photobooks, Antwerp, BE
2018 – Ardesia Projects AIR - Daverio, IT
2018 – Urbanautica, by Dieter Debruyne, IT
2018 – Extra Fort, Tipi Bookshop, Brussels, BE
2017 – The Plantation Journal, by Joanna Crasswell, GB
Education
2019 – MA Photo at The Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Ghent, BE
2018 – Intern at Akina Books, Istanbul, TR
2015 – Assistant for Thomas Sweertvaegher, Ghent, BE
2014 – 2017 BA Photo at The Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Ghent, BE
Collective Projects
2018 – Co-Founder of N/O Gallery , Ghent, BE
2017 – Co-Founder of Pinguin Project Space , Brussels, BE
Commissioned Work & Collaborations
2019 – Ann Demeulemeester [Launch at Paris Fashion week, 19.01.19]
Collections
Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Ghent, BE
Private collections in Belgium & The Netherlands