Plaatsen en niet-plaatsen [Places and non-places]
Ensemble
Throughout is oeuvre, Jan Vercruysse is looking for a place where art and the artist can be meaningful. This quest translates to an attempt at defining places or spaces where art could potentially enter. Vercruysse's works literally form locations for art - and consequently for the artist as well. In Room (III) and Atopies (VIII), this place is defined negatively. These works do not allow for them to be entered in any way by the viewer. In this sense, they are 'non-places' rather than 'places', without content or meaning, and therefore open for reflection. In the later series of Places, Vercruysse works in the opposite way. The Places contain and support meanings, memories and things that have happened. These works confirm the possibility for the existence of a real place; in fact, they themselves form the foundation of a place, the work of art.
