KATLEEN VINCK — FRACTAL

22.10.2016 – 03.12.2016


Katleen Vinck (°1976) is attracted by natural phenomena in our landscape: cliff, rock, cave, … She is even more fascinated by how people try to trace these natural phenomena through architecture. Vinck tries to fathom these artificial constructions by means of staging and archiving. Vinck in turn imitates and isolates these human imitations.


For example, the cave was initially a shelter and transformed into what we know today as a bunker. Rational mock architecture, integrated in our landscape. Subsequently, the landscape has a transitional phase in which nature inexorably intervenes and takes over the architecture again. Afterwards, it is once again man who tries to appropriate nature through architecture. A constant and consistent interaction that forces continuous transformation and thus shapes our landscape. By looking for intermediate forms in those transitional phases, Vinck questions the development process.


For her third solo exhibition at Base-Alpha Gallery, Vinck approaches hill and crater this time. One arising from forces acting upwards, the other showing the remnants of an impact. These natural phenomena often function as no man's land: undesignated residual spaces. Through meticulous, robust scale models, Vinck shows us the human urge to appropriate these natural phenomena and to shape the landscape according to its culture. One builds and arranges facades.


Octagonal shapes and craters pop up repeatedly throughout the setup. They can be interpreted as natural phenomena or as references to architecture. Vinck does not direct the viewer in an unequivocal direction, but constructs a misleading tension between the natural and the staged. Different time layers and the ambiguity of nature and culture become visible.


The arrangement functions as a map that guides the viewer through Vinck's geographical reference. A fractal is the result or consequence of recurring patterns or processes. A figure consisting of all kinds of similar shapes. Although these fractals seem to be close to their original, they still contain a new reality. Vinck's hybrid and diverse work is a mimesis of architectural realities where new meanings and associations naturally emerge.