Hugo Roelandt

"A study in MOVEMENT - not of mechanical objects, but of AIR. An exploration of the existential 'negative space' of man, and a study for 'Western'. (I.) " (Hugo Roelandt)

< Ruimte Z, Biennale Antwerpse Galerijen, June '85

< Galerij van de Academie, Waasmunster, Octobre. '86

< Vooruit, Ghent, Summer '86 

In collaboration with Jan Heremans en Rudi De Bleser.

Air is the environment of life, it forms a protective atmosphere. The air around us is constantly in movement. The atmosphere of the earth is influenced by four phenomena: gravity, the rotation of the planet which carries with it the air, the sun which adds during the day large quantities of radiation energy, and the manipulation of man. By means of the energy borrowed from the sun, changes in the atmosphere in the occur through heating and cooling in the transitions from day to night and vice-versa. Wind occurs because of the convection movements between cold and warm air. Only through the sequence of day and night and the movement of the atmosphere does man notice that the earth is constantly in movement. Man experiences the air as it was the only “natural” environment on this earth. 

In this project the air is manipulated and artificially put in movement. No use is made of materials that are traditionally considered as being properly artistic, instead an environment which stands for “nothing” is used. The environment itself of man is manipulated. The air one experiences as necessary for life is re-contextualised. This project is an attempt to use in an artistic way the relation of man and his experiences of an environment in movement. The project is not a form of representation. The public has to submit to the forces, to experience them themselves. An investigation is carried out with the artificial movement of the air and the influence it has on man and his surroundings.

(Abstracts from Hugo Roelandt: Let's Expand The Sky, red. Mark Holthof, Occasional Papers, London, 2016)