Conceptual work
Video- and 3D installations, art als applied philosophy.
uit 2006 tot 2025
(klik op de afbeelding om het werk groter te bekijken)
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Specimen No. 0001
2025A used condom containing traces of semen is preserved in a transparent resin cube. It rests on a bed of red glitter hearts — symbols of romantic love, mass-produced and disposable — and is framed like a biological artifact, titled Specimen No. 0001. The work juxtaposes the intimate with the clinical, the emotional with the absurd, the transient with the eternal. By fossilizing a remnant of sexual activity and placing it in a mock-scientific, kitsch-laden context, the piece invites reflection on the contradiction between human meaning-making and nature’s impersonal reproductive logic. Are we lovers, agents, or just vehicles and vectors for DNA? In this sterile reliquary, even desire becomes evidence, and love is reduced to packaging.
As Being Is to Becoming, So Is Truth to Belief (Plato, Timaeus 29c)
2025This artwork is a philosophical homage rendered in physical form. Two cacti stand juxtaposed: a vibrant green living cactus labeled “FAKE” and a digitally modeled, white 3D-printed replica labeled “REAL.” The sculpture reflects Plato’s Theory of Forms by illustrating the ancient philosopher’s belief that abstract, ideal Forms are more “real” than their sensory counterparts. Here, the digitally rendered cactus becomes the idealized Form—immutable, decontextualized, and symbolically elevated. The living cactus, with all its natural variation and imperfection, is demoted to “FAKE,” despite being the original. This act of labeling echoes Plato’s metaphysical hierarchy rather than contradicting it. The viewer is nudged to question their instinctive associations with authenticity and objecthood. In parallel, Baudrillard’s theory of simulacra introduces a postmodern twist: the copy, once divorced from its origin, begins to stand in for reality itself. The 3D-printed cactus, now tagged “REAL,” does not merely imitate—it replaces. This tension between philosophical tradition and media critique underscores how meaning is not inherent, but assigned.
Das Nichts nichtet
2025This installation stages a stark philosophical scene: a solitary black chair stands on a white platform, facing a glowing lightbox bearing the phrase “DAS NICHTS NICHTET”. Along the edge of the platform, the French inscription “Cours de métaphysique avancée” (Advanced Metaphysics Course) introduces a subtle irony. The title is drawn from Martin Heidegger’s seminal 1929 lecture What is Metaphysics?, in which he asserts that the Nothing (das Nichts) is not mere absence, but something that “nihilates” — it nothings. In Heidegger’s thought, the Nothing plays a crucial ontological role: it discloses Being by confronting Dasein with the possibility of meaninglessness. The black chair represents the absent spectator or student, evoking an atmosphere of existential quietude: an advanced metaphysics course without lecturer, without content — only the confrontation with absence, with light, with the word. Positioned between philosophical diagram and silent theater, the work invites reflection on the active role of Nothingness in our experience of Being, and on the strange intimacy between language, void, and presence.
Objet a
2025Objet a is a sculptural installation that interrogates desire and consumer culture through a psychoanalytic lens. At its center is a silicone tongue, suspended in front of a mirror framed by lightbulbs like a vanity or store display. Beneath the mirror, the inscription Objet a references Jacques Lacan’s theory of the elusive object of desire — the unattainable “thing” that fuels longing but can never truly be possessed. The mirror also invokes Lacan’s famous mirror stage, the formative moment when the child first recognizes itself in a reflected image. This recognition is also a misrecognition: the self is seen from the outside, as an image that is coherent yet alien. In Objet a, this paradox is made tangible — the tongue reaches toward its own reflection, a gesture of desire toward an unreachable other, or toward the self as other. In front of the mirror lies a lollipop: a symbol of childish craving, consumer indulgence, and the endless cycle of promise and lack. The installation plays with seduction and frustration, with the mirror serving as a stage for both self-recognition and estrangement. By using playful and artificial materials — a plastic tongue, a glossy frame, a cheap piece of candy — Objet a raises pointed questions about how desire is constructed, aestheticized, and commodified in contemporary visual culture.
Eidolon of an Eidolon
2025The installation presents four iterations of a single subject: a cactus. A living cactus is accompanied by a technical drawing, a 3D-printed replica, and a lithophane — each a distinct mode of representation. The work stages a visual dialogue between reality and its reproductions, inviting reflection on how objects are perceived, abstracted, and reimagined. Concept: Drawing on Plato’s theory of forms, Eidolon of an Eidolon explores the layered nature of representation. In Platonic terms, physical objects are already imperfect reflections — eidolons — of ideal, abstract forms. Thus, the drawing, 3D print, and lithophane are not merely copies of the cactus, but copies of a copy: eidolons of eidolons. The installation questions the authority of the “real” and the fidelity of its representations. Each medium introduces its own distortions and conventions, revealing that perception is always mediated. The work becomes a quiet philosophical inquiry into the nature of truth, form, and the limits of seeing. “As being is to becoming, so is truth to belief.” — Plato, Timaeus (29c)
Habits of thought
2025Habits of Thought consists of two pedestals. On the left pedestal lies a black 3D-printed handgun. On the right pedestal stands a transparent epoxy block in which a 3D-printed bullet appears suspended, frozen mid-flight. Each pedestal carries a textual label in capital black letters: “CAUSE” and “EFFECT” — both printed upside down and enclosed in quotation marks. The installation explores a fundamental feature of human cognition: the tendency to connect separate elements into cause-and-effect narratives. By presenting two distinct objects without interaction, yet suggestively labeled, the work exposes how meaning is projected by the mind rather than found in the things themselves. The inverted and quoted words visually disrupt this habitual reading, inviting a more critical engagement. Habits of Thought draws inspiration from the philosophical skepticism of David Hume, who argued that causality is not perceived in the world but constructed by habit. The work subtly questions how belief arises — not from necessity, but from association.
L'embarras du choix
2025In l’embarras du choix, the artist presents three identical golden tin cans, each opened like a luxury item and containing a hyperrealistic silicone nipple in a different skin tone, uniquely pierced. The cans are mounted on mirrored, electrically rotating retail display stands — devices used to showcase consumer goods. These turning platforms elevate the body to the status of product. Intimacy becomes spectacle. With subtle humor and philosophical sharpness, the installation critiques our obsession with choice and self-expression. In a world that simulates freedom through consumption, even the body and identity are reduced to stylized options. Three colors, three piercings, one standardized desire — neatly arranged for those who believe they are choosing. The piercings evoke the logic of the sign economy, where identity is packaged as experience. What appears personal is in fact a curated form of uniqueness — manufactured for display and purchase. l’embarras du choix confronts us with the paradox of abundance: the more we can choose, the less there is that truly differs.
Machines désirantes
2025Machines Désirantes consists of a soft, flesh-colored sculpture of an extended tongue, placed on a rotating platform with a mirrored surface. Just above the tongue, a red lollipop hangs from an almost invisible thread. The tongue turns endlessly, never able to reach its object of desire. The installation portrays the human being as a desiring machine — a system that keeps functioning even when satisfaction is impossible. In its apparent simplicity, the work evokes psychosexual tension, childlike craving, and ironic tragedy. The tongue becomes both a body part and a symbol: expressive, erotic, and helplessly driven. The title refers to the concept of desiring-machines from Anti-Oedipus by Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari. For them, the subject is not a coherent individual but an assemblage of drives, flows, and lack. In late capitalism, as they argue, we are all reduced to productive components in an economic system that constantly stimulates desire but never fulfills it. In Machines Désirantes, this becomes visible and tangible — an eternal orbit around a materialized absence.
The Art of Conversation
2025This work reflects on the philosophical tension between presence and absence in human communication. The lightboxes — mass-produced consumer objects — are stripped of their original function and recontextualized to express emotional urgency. Their mirrored positioning suggests reciprocity, yet their silence underscores the fragility of dialogue. The phrase “PLEASE TALK TO ME” is both invitation and lament. It echoes existential themes: the desire to be acknowledged, the fear of isolation, and the constructed nature of meaning. Inspired by thinkers like Martin Buber and Ludwig Wittgenstein, the piece questions whether true conversation is ever possible — or whether we merely perform the illusion of understanding.
The Transparency of the Self (concept)
2025This work consists of a cylindrical sculpture in transparent epoxy resin, mounted on a white pedestal with internal lighting. Suspended in the center is a longitudinal human feces specimen, precisely positioned and hermetically sealed within the resin. The piece is a contemporary response to Piero Manzoni’s iconic Merda d’artista (1961), but replaces opacity and irony with transparency and illumination. While Manzoni’s cans concealed their contents behind packaging and language, this object confronts the viewer directly. The project explores how bodily presence, shame, and authenticity operate within contemporary art and consumer culture. By using human excrement as a material, it pushes the boundary between repulsion and fetish, between vulnerability and self-display. At the same time, it questions whether the value of art still depends on meaning — or merely on the aura of authorship. In a time when the body becomes ever more public — through social media, medical data, and identity discourse — even our excretions are claimed as aesthetic territory. The current photo is AI generated. The work still has to be executed.
Objet à consommer
2025Objet à consommer features a hyperrealistic nipple embedded in a clear epoxy cube, displayed on a white pedestal with gold lettering. The nipple, pierced with a heart-shaped ornament, evokes both intimacy and commodification. The title — “Object to consume” — points directly to the fetishization of the body in consumer culture. The piece critiques how especially female-coded body parts are decontextualized and transformed into objects for visual and economic consumption. Following Jean Baudrillard’s theory of simulation, the nipple becomes a fetishized icon — a simulacrum severed from any bodily origin. It is not a reference to the body, but a substitute for it. Foucault’s notion of biopolitics resonates here as well: bodies and desires are not only disciplined, but aestheticized and made profitable. The sterile, almost clinical presentation — polished resin, geometric framing, designer typography — echoes the language of luxury branding while amplifying the tension between flesh and form. Feminist thinkers such as Laura Mulvey and Martha Nussbaum would read the work as a commentary on the “male gaze” and the instrumentalization of desire. By isolating the nipple and framing it as a consumable, the work reflects how affection and eroticism are increasingly commodified in the digital age. Objet à consommer is both artifact and provocation — a relic from a world where even intimacy becomes merchandise.
A picture held us captive. (Philosophical Investigations, §115)
2025This 3D printed artwork explores the tension between language, meaning, and reality through an internal paradox. The billboard firmly states: "There is no left. There is no right."—a claim that seems to suggest that the concepts of ‘left’ and ‘right’ are not absolute or objective but depend on context, language use, and perspective. Yet, the work immediately undermines this assertion by placing the words "Left" and "Right" on the platform beneath the sign, presenting these concepts as fixed points of reference. This tension closely aligns with Ludwig Wittgenstein’s ideas on language and meaning. In his Philosophical Investigations, he argues that the meaning of a word arises from its use within a language game. ‘Left’ and ‘right’ do not possess an intrinsic, universal essence; rather, they acquire meaning through how we apply them. The billboard appears to embrace this idea by denying the existence of ‘left’ and ‘right’ as absolute categories. Yet at the same time, the artwork reveals how difficult it is to think outside such concepts—the words on the platform still force us into a binary orientation. This creates a paradox: if left and right do not exist, why are they named? In this way, the artwork exposes how language both enables and constrains our thinking.
Cenotaph for a People
2025Cenotaph for a People is a sculptural installation confronting the violent colonial legacy of the Congo Free State under King Leopold II of Belgium. The work features a white 3D-printed bust of Leopold II, mounted on a base inscribed with the phrase Le roi du Congo ("The King of the Congo"). In front of the bust lies a pool of red clotted blood—thick, opaque, and darkly symbolic. The entire work is sealed beneath a layer of clear epoxy, preserving its pristine yet disturbing aesthetic and invoking the frozen silence of historical forgetting.
Cours de sémiotique avancée. Entre le signe et la fonction, où est le réel?
2025This art installation consists of two 3D-printed pedestals covered with blackened artificial grass, evoking a natural setting within an artificial framework. One pedestal holds a 3D-printed bird, titled Le Signifiant, representing the 'signifier' in semiotics—the physical form of a sign. The other pedestal features a 3D-printed birdhouse, titled Le Référent, symbolizing the 'referent'—the actual object in reality to which a sign refers. The work engages with Jean Baudrillard’s theory of simulacra and hyperreality. Le Signifiant, the 3D-printed bird, is a simulacrum: a sign without an original, a copy of something that never existed. This reflects Baudrillard’s notion that in contemporary culture, simulations detach from reality yet are still perceived as real. In contrast, Le Référent, the birdhouse, retains a functional link to reality—it can serve as a real shelter despite its artificial origin. This juxtaposition highlights the blurred boundaries between reality and simulation. An AI-generated video accompanies the installation, showing the 3D-printed bird gradually transforming into a real, moving bird. This evolution raises the question: does an AI-created entity gain referential status, or does it remain a signifier? By exploring these shifts in meaning, the installation prompts reflection on how signs and simulations shape our perception of reality.
Les Valeurs universelles
2025
Les valeurs universelles explores the tension between the universal ideals of the Enlightenment (Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité) and the unavoidable materiality of the human body. Three 3D printed plinths present silicone nipples, each adorned with a different piercing configuration.
The work plays with three levels of reality:
1. The plinth as fabricated object — a functional, neutral carrier, the object as 'bearer of meaning'.
2. The nipple as simulation — an imitation of flesh in silicone, evoking the body without being the body.
3. The piercing as real — a usable, authentic item that operates within our material and cultural reality.
By combining these layers, the work reveals the tension between abstraction and materiality, between ideal and reality, and between universal values and the concrete diversity of bodies. It invites reflection on how we assign meaning to symbols and objects, and how these meanings relate to our understanding of reality and identity.
L'impact du signe
2025This 3D-printed installation questions whether the 9/11 attacks can still be seen as real events, or only as hyperreal images etched into collective memory. Inspired by Jean Baudrillard, it explores how the airplane and towers have become signs—icons in a media spectacle that transcends reality. The physical attachment of the plane to the tower emphasizes that it was not the object itself that struck, but its symbolic force. As Baudrillard wrote: “Reality itself has surpassed itself in its own simulacrum.” The installation reflects on how events are shaped, distorted, and fixed within image, media, and memory. The statue of the Falling Man adds a deeply human and existential dimension to the installation. The choice of the World Trade Center was not just strategic, but symbolic: a monument of Western economic power and globalization. The attack was a spectacle, aimed at disrupting the symbolic order. Its violence was designed to generate meaning—to create an iconic image that would flood the world. In this sense, the event took place primarily in the realm of representation, not material reality.
Physis
2025Physis, derived from phyō ("to grow"), in Pre-Socratic philosophy referred to an inner process of becoming and unfolding. Nature was not a static given but a dynamic force with its own drive for development. This contrasts with the modern scientific view, which sees nature as a mechanical system, explainable through laws and causality. The ancient concept of physis is revived in ecological thinking, where nature is not merely an object but a network of interactions and emergent processes. This installation confronts the viewer with the boundary between life and lifelessness, growth and stillness. By placing the coral on a platform and introducing minimal movement through an AI-generated video, the viewer is invited to reflect on how we understand and perceive nature. Here, physis is not conceived as a collection of objects but as a process—a continuous dynamic of formation, transformation, and transience. The installation encourages the viewer to break away from the modern scientific perspective, in which nature is primarily understood in terms of lifeless matter and fixed laws. By giving the coral a subtle, almost imperceptible motion, we are challenged to look and experience anew - to unlearn and unsee what we thought we understood.
Politique Indigène
2025Politique Indigène reconstructs Léon Rom’s notorious colonial residence and the yard where a gallows once stood, using 3D printing techniques. Rom, infamous for his brutality in the Congo Free State, decorated his home with skulls, becoming a symbol of the systemic oppression and atrocities of Belgian colonialism. The diorama's are presented together with a video that alternates between historical footage and AI-generated scenes, presenting an idealized, fictionalized version of colonization. The interactions between colonizers and locals appear peaceful yet remain deeply paternalistic and disruptive. The video reflects the politique indigène, a colonial policy that gave the illusion of autonomy for the indigenous population while maintaining control through coercion. It reveals how this policy concealed the oppression at the heart of Belgian colonialism. By blending historical footage with AI-generated content, Politique Indigène invites viewers to question how colonial history is remembered and presented. The work critiques how histories are reconstructed and how personal and geopolitical narratives shape our understanding of the past. It offers a critical visualization of the Belgian colonial project and encourages reflection on its enduring impact.
The ontology of truth 2
2025In The Ontology of Truth, the artist presents a white 3D printed cube embedded with six hyperrealistic nipples in three different skin tones. Each tone appears twice, always on opposing sides. Each nipple is also uniquely pierced. The cube is tilted on its pedestal, denying any neutral orientation and forcing the viewer into a specific perspective. The work playfully and ironically references Heidegger’s notion of aletheia — truth as both disclosure and concealment. At any given moment, only three sides of a cube can be seen; to reveal one aspect is necessarily to obscure another. The piece thus suggests that truth is not a fixed entity but a situation — a perspectival condition, contingent on location, position, and viewer. From every angle, three distinct skin tones are visible, but due to the unique piercings, no two perspectives are the same. The bodies in the work — vulnerable, intimate, adorned, particular — return truth to the tactile, the corporeal, the human. Each piercing, each contrast of color, forms a micro-narrative. Together, they underscore the idea that what we see is always only a fragment of what is.
Qualitas Occultae
2025Qualitas Occultae is an interactive light-based installation that explores the invisible forces shaping our world, inspired by Newton’s concept of gravity and a childhood fascination with remote activation. The work features a small “flip-flap” figure under a glass dome, powered by a photovoltaic element. When the space is empty, the figure remains still. However, a motion sensor triggers a strong directional light as visitors enter, illuminating the dome and causing the figure to move, seemingly animated by an unseen force. This installation reflects on the mystery of action at a distance, a concept central to Newton’s understanding of nature but rejected by Leibniz, who dismissed it as an occult property. The piece also evokes the wonder of childhood discovery, like the marvel of solar panels and remote controls—technologies that enable objects to move without direct contact. By allowing viewers to witness a simple yet magical transformation, Action at a Distance seeks to reignite awe at the hidden forces governing our reality, much like Newton’s contemporaries once questioned how gravity could act across empty space. In an age where technology has made the extraordinary routine, this work encourages us to pause and rediscover the mysteries that quietly shape our world. Balancing scientific explanation with a sense of magic in natural phenomena, the installation invites us to reconnect with the marvel of the unseen.
The Anatomy of Absent Causes
2025This installation examines our tendency to perceive connections and meanings where none objectively exist. Inspired by David Hume’s critique of causality, it challenges the viewer to question how we construct reality. The work consists of three elements: a 3D-printed pedestal, a 3D-printed chicken egg, and a real metal spoon, casually placed beside the egg. Their arrangement evokes automatic associations—an action, a cause-and-effect relationship, an absent eater. Yet these meanings arise solely in the observer, shaped by cognitive reflexes and conceptual frameworks. Just as Hume argued that causality is a habit of thought rather than an inherent feature of reality, this installation reveals that we do not perceive the world directly but through mental constructs. The Anatomy of Absent Causes invites the viewer to critically examine these interpretations and recognize the limits of our knowledge.
The ontology of truth 1
2025This 3D printed installation explores the instability of truth through spatial orientation and linguistic opposition. A tilted cube, marked alternately with the words left and right, rests on a base inscribed with the title The Ontology of Truth. The cube evokes structure and clarity, but the opposing inscriptions undermine this sense of order. Left and right suggest not only directions, but also ideological or moral positions. The work invites reflection on how truth is shaped by contrast, context, and perspective. The installation draws on Martin Heidegger’s concept of aletheia—truth as unconcealment. Heidegger argued that truth is not a fixed correspondence, but a dynamic event in which something emerges from hiddenness. The cube, partly lit and partly obscured, enacts this tension between revealing and concealing. Importantly, a cube never shows itself entirely: at most, three sides are visible at once, while the others remain hidden. To look at the cube is also to hide part of it. This basic geometric fact becomes a metaphor for Heidegger’s insight—every disclosure is also a concealment. By presenting the cube in a state of imbalance and partial visibility, the work suggests that truth is never fully present or complete. It must always be approached from a particular angle, in a particular light. The Ontology of Truth becomes not only a reflection on what is shown, but on all that remains hidden.
All the things you cannot see
2024The video installation centers on an interview with a young woman discussing anxiety, disorientation, loss of control, and psychological splitting. She describes fears of being observed and judged. Using brief found footage segments, the installation visualizes her condition, reflecting universal fears and uncertainties. By juxtaposing visually analogous fragments, the work highlights the metaphorical nature of thought. Scientists appear as symbols of power in psychology, exposing the illusion of objectivity and its role in creating hierarchical, dehumanizing dynamics. The metaphor of fermentation prompts reflection on the limits of knowledge, the ontology of the unobservable, and how conceptual frameworks shape understanding and power structures.
Tête-de-Nègre/White Innocence
2022The video installation consists of three sequences of images, based on found footage from Belgium's colonial history and American visual culture. The images make visible the binary, moral-theoretical oppositions that constitute Western thought (e.g., civilized-savage, uninhibited-disciplined, white-black, rational-emotional). In this way, the work seeks to reveal the associative fields and cultural archives (a term from Edward Said) that underpin the dominant Western self-image. The images construct a semi-imaginary history, a "theory-fiction" that indirectly and obliquely highlights certain aspects of historical and social reality. However, attempting to interpret the images literally, factually, or historically is futile. Above all, the work aims to evoke a sense of estrangement and alienation in the viewer, potentially prompting reflection on the racial ideologies and stereotypes that, often unconsciously, shape our thinking.
Post hoc ergo propter hoc (bis)
2013Double projection. By temporally and spatially unraveling an iconic image (the WTC attack), the relationship between correlation and causality is called into question. David Hume already pointed out that we only perceive the succession of events, not the causal connection itself.
Si fallor sum
2013Videoprojectie - installatie
Beyond
2006Projection on wall with non-functional door handle.
La flêche de Zénon
2006Videoprojectie en olie op doek De titel refereert naar een gelijknamig werk van René Magritte
Boobytrap
2006Videoprojectie en installatie.
Ding an sich 1
2006Videoprojectie en olie op doek. Een banaal gebruiksvoorwerp komt in het volle daglicht te staan.
Ding an sich 2
2006Videoprojectie en olie op doek. Een banaal gebruiksvoorwerp in het volle daglicht te staan.
Der mönch am meer
2006Videoprojectie op beschilderd doek. Referentie naar het gelijknamige werk van David Caspar Friedrich.
Grundlosigkeit
2006Videoprojectie op muur en onbeschilderd doek. Combinatie van een narratief en een abstract leesbare 'structuur', beide in éénzelfde beeld vervat.
Je est un autre
2006Videoprojectie op muur en olie op doek. Portret
Tussen hangen en vallen
2006Single channel video. 'Tussen hangen en vallen' is een oud vissersgezegde dat verwijst naar het moment net voor zonsondergang. Deze onzekerheidstoestand is een metafoor voor de condition humaine, voor een bestaan 'in suspensie'.
Pending
2006Videoprojectie en olie op doek. Pending staat zowel voor "hangend" als "het hangt af van (de perceptie)"
Différance
2006Dubbele projectie op boekwerken, intermitterend synchroon waardoor op bepaalde ogenblikken een harmonische beweging ontstaat. Différance is een homofoon woord en een filosofisch concept van Jacques Derrida met betrekking tot de betekenis van woorden.
Post hoc ergo propter hoc
2006Dubbele projectie, waarbij een visuele en mentale associatie wordt opgeroepen die de relatie tussen correlatie en causaliteit bevraagt.
Sous les pavés, c'est la plage
2006B&W videoprojectie op (gekleurde) olie doek. Toepassing van het visuele principe van de 'aquarelillusie'.
synchronicity-chance
2006Single channel video. Identieke beelden volgen elkaar op met een verschillende voice-over, als illustratie van de relatie tussen taal, de interpretatie van beelden en de ervaring van de werkelijkheid. Er zijn geen feiten, enkel interpretaties.
Suspension of disbelief
2006Videoprojectie van de schaduw van een object op datzelfde object, met minimale beeldvariaties. Verwijzing naar de grotallegorie van Plato.
Swimming
2006Videoprojectie en olie op doek.
Tranche de vie
2006Videoprojectie op muur en onbeschilderd doek. Het doek fungeert alternerend als projectieoppervlak en als decorum, wat leidt tot een veranderende ontologische status.