ANNIE GENTILS GALLERY
Peter Benoitstraat 40, B – 2018 Antwerpen, Belgium
www.anniegentilsgallery.com
T: +32 (0)3 216 30 28 M: +32 (0)477 756 721 E: mail@anniegentilsgallery.com
ELS VANDEN MEERSCH - SPEAKING IN TONGUES
September - oktober 2015
Els Vanden Meersch photographs architectural sites. She is interested in architecture
because of its psychological and philosophical possibilities. Els Vanden Meersch
initiates international projects starting from an intense research into architectural sites
having a special relationship with historical events. She approaches architecture as
blueprints of social relationships.
An important subject of her fascination is architecture as representation of shared
histories or common memories. Which architectural traces - or in case of conflict:
architectural ‘scars’ - societies choose to preserve and which they don’t. Selecting or
ignoring sites are a way of defining oneself. It is an interplay of politics and identity.
The identity-bound character of architecture manifests itself by its political use
through intentional devastation, collateral damage, neglect or monumentalization.
Since 2008 her interest gradually moved from Western Europe to the Middle East.
After Hosgeldiniz - a large scale photographic database of the ghost villages in South
East of Turkey - Vanden Meersch started her new project: Mastering the Curtains.
Mastering the Curtains is a PhD project at the University and the Royal Academy of
Antwerp and focuses on the architecture of religious minority groups such as the
Sufi’s and the Bahai in Iran.
The exhibition: " Speaking in tongues "
Els Vanden Meersch
September - October 2015
In her fourth solo exhibition at Annie Gentils Gallery Els Vanden Meersch brings
together works that focus on the different perspectives that are possible on an image,
a truth, an event or a location. One historical event can inspire many different stories,
identities or even ideologies.
Different truths can compete, undermine or reinforce each other. Truth or nonsense
depends on which side one is located.
The exhibition combines works composed of images and sounds from Iran with
works composed of images and sounds from Antwerp.
Eagle’s nest
One of the main works in the exhibition is called Eagle’s nest. Panoramic photos
shown together with a slideshow and sound collage is an installation inspired on
Alamut.
Alamut was a mountain fortress located in the Alamut region in the South Caspian
province of Daylam near the Rudbar region in Iran, approximately 100 km from
present-day Tehran. The name means ‘Eagle's Nest’.
Under the leadership of Hasan-i Sabbah, Alamut became the site of intense activity
for the Shi'a Nizari Ismai'li, along with a smaller subgroup known as the Assassins,
between 1090 and 1256 AD. During the medieval period, the castle functioned as the
major stronghold of the Nizari Ismaili state. In 1256, Ismaili control of the fortress was
lost to the invading Mongols.
After the Mongol destruction, the castle was of only regional significance, passing
through the hands of various local powers. Today, it lies in ruins.
Alamut has been an important source of inspiration, both politically and culturally, for
many. Ranging from literature, such as the literary work of the Slovenian Vladimir
Bartol, to films such as for example the fantasy world of The Lord of the Rings, even
to the destructive political discourse and its setting of terrorist movements. The piece
in the exhibition brings together parts of the absurd fragmentation and imagination on
the empty place this ruin is today, under the title: “Nothing is true, everything is
permitted”. A Supreme Ismaeli Motto.
The hidden
Another eye catcher in the exhibition is a photo series about the quest for the Sufi
communities in Iran.
Sufism (or Tassawuf) is a branch of Islam that is defined by its adherents as the
inner, mystical dimension of the religion. In Iran, the Sufis’ liberal views contradict
Sharia. Theirs is a politics of a-politics. Sufis do not support the government doctrine
of velayat-e faqih (the supreme Shiite jurist should also be the nation’s political
leader). Not always intentionally, they are among the critics of theocracy. Today,
Sufism is under scrutiny in Iran because of tensions with the orthodox Islamic
republic. Sufi shrines and mosques have been subject to destruction. Sufis are
attacked in many Muslim countries, most violently in Pakistan, where many have
been killed. But they are harassed most consistently by the state authorities of Iran.
Many were imprisoned during the election protests that started in June 2009
following the disputed victory of president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (the ‘Green
Revolution’). The Sufi community inspires, due to its philosophy, opposition to any
doctrine that divides rather than unites.
Units of infinity
Units of infinity is an artwork from 2012, for the first time shown in the gallery, that is
perfectly combined with the art pieces inspired by Iran.
Units of infinity takes the city behind the facades as a starting point. All religious
interiors of the same city, Antwerp, are captured in pictures and sound recordings
during the execution of their specific ceremonies. The project investigates how
smaller commercial spaces transform into prayer rooms of all kinds, and how
different social groups are shaping public space into a fragile puzzle that constantly
rearranges it selves.
Units of infinity is a sound and image collage that visualizes the thin boundaries
between metaphysical intimacy and public space, interior and exterior, identity and
politics, and displays it in a jumble of images and sound clips that overlap, neutralize
and enhance their juxtaposition. The conclusive nature of the convictions becomes
shaky in their many juxtaposed versions as they are subjected to an overall market
mechanism. The result is a walk through the city as a marketplace, strolling as
Babylonian experience.