19 november 2024, Wouter van den Eijkel
The studio of... Thomas Verstraeten
Thomas Verstraeten’s work straddles the interface between the performing and visual arts. For his project Familiestraat (Family Street), created during the pandemic in 2020, he recorded every movement on his street in the Antwerp district of Seefhoek. He translated these recordings into a script for a six-hour-long performance in which he, along with 250 local residents, reenacted the events of that strange year.
Verstraeten has lived in Seefhoek for ten years and has grown to love the neighbourhood. In this hyper-diverse area of northern Antwerp, the entire world comes together. It is home to 127 nationalities with every conceivable sociological and cultural background. "Seefhoek is a neighbourhood of arrivals. Half the people who move here leave after a year. This gives the neighbourhood an enormous dynamism; it is constantly changing."
Starting 23 November, the Seefhoek Series will be on display at Fred & Ferry. For this exhibition, Verstraeten created new work that aims to uncover new layers of meaning within the project. "I’m trying to recreate the project so to speak, but this time tailored to the white cube."
Seefhoek Series by Thomas Verstraeten can be seen at Fred & Ferry in Antwerp through 21 December.
Most people know you from your Seefhoek Series, in which you collaborated with residents of Antwerp’s Seefhoek district. You’re now going to be collaborating with Toneelhuis for a year. How would you describe your work?
I have a multidisciplinary approach that straddles the interface between the performing arts and visual arts. It consists of two major components. I am part of the theatre collective FC Bergman, with which I create visual theatre productions and operas, and I also work on solo projects separate from my FC Bergman colleagues. These projects are rooted in the urban public space and originate from my fascination with the beautiful, messy ways in which people shape their lives. I distil narratives from the movements of the city and its inhabitants, from its visible and hidden stories and lives. In my videos, installations and performances, I try to theatricalise, as it were, everyday life to create something extraordinary. I make the mundane visible again and the ephemeral tangible. These projects often involve large groups of city residents.
Thomas Verstraeten, Familiestraat (scale model), 2020, FRED&FERRY
I imagine your studio might move to different locations given the nature of your projects. Do you have a fixed address or is it more nomadic?
I don’t have one studio, but several workspaces scattered across the city. I share the attic of my house with my partner, which is more an office than a studio. I also have space at the Toneelhuis production centre for building models and storing materials. But more than these physical, defined spaces, I view the city’s public space as my studio. And that studio is nomadic; it moves along with me to the different cities where I work. Projects come to life while walking, cycling and talking with city residents.
How do you relate to your studio? Is it a practical workspace or a sort of sacred space where no one is allowed in?
My studio is absolutely not a sacred, inviolable place. The public space belongs to everyone; we all share it. So, everyone is welcome to use the studio. ;-)
Thomas Verstraeten, Familiestraat: verstoppertje, 2022, FRED&FERRY
For those unfamiliar with the Seefhoek neighbourhood, how would you describe it and why did you choose this area specifically?
Seefhoek is a hyper-diverse neighbourhood in northern Antwerp. On just a few square kilometres, the entire world comes together: 127 nationalities, every conceivable sociological and cultural background, from young families to elderly seniors who have lived in the area their entire lives and have slowly seen it change. Seefhoek is a neighbourhood of arrivals. Half the people who move here leave after a year. This gives the area a tremendous dynamism: it is constantly changing.
The reason for using this neighbourhood as the starting point for a series of performances is simple. It’s where I’ve lived for nearly ten years and over time, I’ve grown deeply fond of it. It’s a place where life still partly happens on the street and invites you to create theatre. Seefhoek Series is therefore an ode to the neighbourhood.
Congratulations on Seefhoek Series! These works stem from the Familiestraat project. How did that project come about?
For Familiestraat, I observed my street for a year and recorded every movement. This resulted in a thick document detailing the entire history of the street during the year 2020. This document formed the basis of the script for a six-hour-long performance in which I rebuilt my street to scale in a large factory hall using wood and cardboard. Together with 250 residents, we reenacted 35 real-life events from that strange year of 2020.
Studio Thomas Verstraeten, image Ivo Nelis
What can we expect to see at the gallery?
I’ll be working with the photographic and video materials, drawings and models that remained after Seefhoek Series. My plan isn’t to make a documentary account of the series of performances, but to create new work that reveals new layers of meaning in the project. I am trying to recreate the project so to speak, but this time tailored to the white cube.
Central to the exhibit are four new videos, which are not only visually fascinating, but also feature thrilling sound design by sound designer Senjan Jansen. One video is A 21st Century Portrait, a project in which a simple street football match with local youth is transformed into a hyper-professional, live-televised soccer match. In the video shown in the gallery, I’ve cut out all the scenes of football playing. What remains is a unique montage of portraits of youth playing the role of professional football players with flair. There are also photos, collages, stage elements and some new models. What I find particularly exciting is that the performances, which originally took place across different locations and times, now come together in the exhibition space and engage in dialogue with one another.
You’re also collaborating with Toneelhuis next year. What exactly will you be doing?
Together with composer Heleen Van Haegenborgh, I’m working on a city symphony, a co-production between Toneelhuis and DE SINGEL. This involves creating and performing a contemporary music piece based on the sounds of the city. No violins or percussion on stage, but growling car engines, sunny terraces with clinking glasses, barking dogs, a tram bell, a singing street guitarist, a reversing truck with a beeping sound, a clock striking twelve, whistling birds... All these sounds together form a sculptural collage of the city.
Thomas Verstraeten, Familiestraat: verstoppertje, 2022, FRED&FERRY
What are you working on right now?
I’m working on several large projects. This spring, I’m creating Inselliebe for the Austrian arts festival Wiener Festwochen. It’s a project set on Donauinsel, a vast island in the middle of the Danube. It’s a unique urban landscape, something between a nature reserve and recreational paradise. It’s a place where everyone can be their quirky or eccentric self.
From a collection of observations, scenes and situations, I want to select ten images that, like individual chapters of a book, capture the essence of the island. Theatre will be created out of each of these ten scenes. The scene will be illuminated with theatre lighting, the ‘characters’ will each have a microphone, their spoken ‘text’ will be subtitled and a soundscape will accompany the action. The reenacted events will take place against the backdrop of a painted theatre curtain. This reconstruction is an age-old theatrical illusion. It’s a way of saying: we’re not here; we’re somewhere else. The curtain is a painted image of the place where the action takes place. By doubling the context in this way, the backdrop emphasises the fictive nature of the scene.
I’m also creating a large new work for Art Brussels. I’m remaking a set I previously built for Seefhoek Series. Finally, I’m working on a new production with my FC Bergman colleagues, which will premiere this fall at the Ruhrtriennale.
Thomas Verstraeten, Seefhoek Series, FRED&FERRY
