Kunsthal Gent:
“Olivier Goethals studied Architecture and Urban Development. He is working simultaneously as architect and artist. In his wide practice he researches the connection between space and consciousness. Olivier made spatial interventions and artistic installations for venues such as: Het Nieuwe Instituut Rotterdam, Z33 Hasselt, Extra City Antwerp, Be-Part Waregem, SMAK Ghent & Palais De Tokyo Paris.
Previously he worked as a freelance senior architect for De Vylder Vinck Taillieu (2008-2016). Since 2010, he is teaching at the KULeuven Architecture Department. He was a guest critic at RU Ghent faculty of Architecture, LUCA School of Arts Experimental Studio and ETH Zurich faculty of Architecture. Olivier is in charge of the design and implementation of spatial interventions for the art collective 019.”
Olivier Goethals:
“All good things serve space. In architecture, the walls are at the service of the space in between those walls. In drawings, lines are related to one another by the surface between those lines. Similarly, the stillness between sounds is essential for the understanding of spoken language and the appreciation of music.
My practice revolves a lot around spatial interventions. They are mostly self-built structures which relate directly to the existing built environment. The object of interest hence becomes the redefined, charged space between the new and the given. I aim to maximize the potential of space by creating open environments for future use; new stages for prospective happenings.
Hereby, I focus on increasing the awareness of visitors, to enhance their presence as observers in the here and now. Sentiency, the sensory ability of organisms or agents to feel and to experience the environment, is a very specific spatial quality. The treatment of space is then of major significance to bring sentient beings closer to being, to consciousness itself. In this, the (art)world functions as the playful place of spatial experiment.
True creative action has in its core a spatial-temporal element. A creative action can be understood as a causal expression of spatial empathy; because the act of creating itself is rooted in a space-like emptiness. True creative action is never an expression of one's personal thoughts; it flows from the impersonal depth through the space in between those thoughts. Like breathing, creative action happens.”
TIME IS SPEEDING UP
PLAY
ABOUT
INTRO PLAY SINCERELY: CHRISTOPHE VAN GERREWEY
Q&A WITH OLIVIER GOETHALS & BERNARDO KASTRUP. 20211205
ARCHITECTURE
(web)design: Mathieu Serruys