Expo Seefhoek Series
In September 2023, together with about five hundred local residents, I created the seven-part location project Seefhoek Series, an ode to a hyper-diverse area in the north of Antwerp called the Seefhoek. The project was an attempt to penetrate the soul of a city district. It was a meditation on a resilient but abandoned neighbourhood.
In collaboration with Fred & Ferry Gallery, I created an exhibition on Seefhoek Series in November 2024. Using videos, photographic material, scale models and installations, I took a fresh look at Seefhoek Series and tried to uncover new layers of meaning. The seven performances, which were originally scattered in different locations throughout the neighbourhood and at different times, came together in the exhibition space and enter into a real dialogue with each other. In the exhibition, through magnifications of reality, I tried to show the undeniable complexity of life in the city. Equally, I made the audience witness to both the fragility and the vitality that make up the city.
2024, Expo Seefhoek Series, installation view © Lynn Van Oijstaeijen
Thomas Verstraeten masterfully accentuates public life, making the invisible visible to those who have yet to see it. His artistic strategy is deeply theatrical but transcends mere anecdote by exploring universal themes. Nothing is as it seems; globalization has always existed, and the local is constantly exchanged and reshaped.
— Luc Lambrecht
2024, Expo Seefhoek Series, installation view © Lynn Van Oijstaeijen
2024, Urbi et Orbi, video still
Credits
Concept: Thomas Verstraeten
Editor videos: Lynn Van Oijstaeijen
Sound design: Senjan Jansen
Assistance: Luc Galle, Casper Engels, Maarten Dockx, Antoine Maes, Victor Boni, Floren Bloch
Production: Fred & Ferry Gallery
Coproduction: Toneelhuis
The exposition is part of: Unlock The City!
With the support of: Creative Europe, Flemish Government
Thanks to: DE SINGEL