Pierre-Philippe Hofmann

For the Portrait of a Landscape project, Pierre-Philippe Hofmann took ten walks from the outer borders of Switzerland to the centre of the country, Älggi Alp in the Obwalden canton. During his journey of more than 2,700 kilometres, the artist shot a video for each kilometre. How can you capture the immaterial essence of this artistic action in a material object such as an exhibition or a book? On 31 August we will discuss Pierre-Philippe Hofmann's work, the dialogue between architecture and landscape, and how to capture this dialogue in an exhibition and a book. Curator Heidi Ballet and researcher Steven Humblet will join Hofmann for the opening talk which will be moderated by Simon Delobel.

Programme:

In Portrait of a Landscape, Pierre-Philippe Hofmann turns on the spotlight on the versatility of the Swiss landscape, where breathtaking mountains interact with everyday cityscapes. His interpretation of the architecture and landscape into books and exhibitions will be commented on by Steven Humblet, researcher at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp. In particular, while researching the topic of landscape and cityscape photography and taking part in projects such as Citygraphy and Off-Camera, he studied how photobooks enable readers to experience art and space from a new point of view.

A different perspective on the subject will be provided by Heidi Ballet, curator at De Singel with a research interest in oceanic histories. During her work, she particularly focused on the relationship between art and landscape. Especially while curating events such as the Beaufort Sculpture Triennial in 2018, landscape has become a fascinating and inspirational exhibition space for her.

As a moderator, Simon Delobel, the director of KIOSK Gent will bring all these dimensions together in a conversation about the interaction among art, architecture and landscape and its representations in publications and exhibitions.