Kurt d'Haeseleer
Kurt d ‘Haeseleer is the artistic director and co-founder of WERKTANK, factory for new and old media. He is responsible for the selection of the artists and productions since 2010.
As artistic director he curated expositions for Werktank at De Garage Leuven, Imal Brussels, Kikk Namur, Zomertank Leuven, Stadsfestival Leuven, Bruits Blancs Paris…
Werktank is a production platform in Leuven, Belgium, which operates at the crossroads of visual art, science and technology.
Werktank investigates how digital technology can expand the artist’s toolbox, but it also takes a critical stance and reflects on the rapidly evolving technology and the societal and social transformation that goes with it. Werktank is convinced that the mix of new and old technology in the arts can provide new insights into contemporary social problems. What do traditional artisanal techniques learn us about sustainability and what happens when new media infects, mutates and transforms them?
Next to his own productions and performances, d’Haeseleer regularly works as a video designer for theatre, dance, opera. Kurt has created the video design for the Ring-cycle in the Scala by Guy Cassiers and worked with the likes of Ictus, Georges Aperghis, Ief Spincemaille, Inne Goris, Jon Hassell, Peter Verhelst,Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer,…
Last years he had a profilic collaboration with French composer, director and musician Franck Vigroux, resulting in numerous visual installations, AV performances and theatre designs.
In his work he focuses on the visualisation of the dynamics of information. He translates the all-encompassing presence of media into meta-images. Media presence is symbolized through layers of sticky pixel-textures, noise and interactivity. Special effects play an important role in his work that can best be described as a ‘pixel drama’ or ‘pixel soap’ and which can be found in the border zone between painting, video clips, cinema and performance. In his work the special effect is the message.
Kurt is well known for his extreme video manipulations. He manipulates images by forcing them to react to the parameters of other images. With this approach, he can only partly foresee how the image will appear. The result is a process that strongly ressembles developing analogue photographs, where one can never precisely predict the result. Digital alchemy, if you like.
Kurt d’Haeseleer creëerde verschillende video’s en interactieve installaties die te zien waren op internationale festivals en shows in Rotterdam, Tokyo, Montreal, Paris, Berlin,…
Hij werkt op regelmatige basis als videodesigner voor theater, dans en opera en maakt zijn eigen performances, vaak in samenwerking met de Franse componist Franck Vigroux. d’Haeseleer ontwierp het videodesign voor de Ring-cyclus van Guy Cassiers in de Scala en werkte samen met onder andere Ictus, Georges Aperghis,Isabella Soupart, Jon Hassell, Wouter Van Looy, Ief Spincemaille, Peter Verhelst, Köhn, …
Kurt is gekend voor zijn extreme videomanipulaties.Hij manipuleert beelden door hen te dwingen om te reageren op de parameters van andere beelden. Met deze aanpak kan hij enkel deels voorzien hoe het beeld eruit zal zien. Het resultaat is een proces dat sterk lijkt op het ontwikkelen van analoge foto’s, waar het ook altijd een verrassing is om het resultaat te zien, of zelfs op alchemie, maar dan volledig digitaal.
Special effects spelen een belangrijke rol in zijn werk, dat het best omschreven kan worden als “pixel drama” of “pixel soap” en dat zich situeert in de grenszone tussen schilderijen, videoclips, cinema en performance. In zijn werk is het special effect de boodschap.
Kurt d’Haeseleer is artistiek leider bij Werktank.
