Festiv'Art - Expo
SteampunkAlmost born by accident, this literary trend started with a witty remark made by K.W. Jeter in the early 80’s to describe the Victorian essays of his fellow writers, Tim Powers and James Blaylock. Rapidly labeled “chronicles of the future perfect” or even “retrofuture”, Steampunk is the ironical equivalent of cyberpunk and is based on two assumptions: -uchrony: following the famous principle of what if…, the framework of the story seeps into a parallel world and reinvents history with an ultra-referential style. -the esthetic mainly belongs to the industrial revolution of the 19th century and the Victorian era. When today’s technology is characterized by increasing miniaturization, the Steampunk esthetic has no problem taking on its gigantism (the whole universe of Jules Vernes, Albert Robida and H.G. Wells is present in this spatiotemporal medley). It didn’t take long for the Steampunk trend to escape from the literary sphere and its visual perspectives (fully-flavored anachronisms, post-apocalyptic worlds ruled by a retrograde technology) quickly inspired the video games market (Fallout), comics (Hiromu Arakawa, Daniel Torres, Alan Moore and his League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, or also Belgium’s very own Frangois Schuiten) and of course the movie industry. Brazil (Terry Gilliam), Delicatessen (Jean-Pierre Jeunet), Casshern (Kazuaki Kiriya) or even The mutant chronicles (Simon Hunter) are undoubtedly the modern expressions of the Steampunk trend. Only the confrontation between the straight and the organic was still missing from this retro-utopia. You can count on the BIFFF to provide it with the joint exhibition of Stephane Halleux and Sam Van Olffen. Stéphane HalleuxWorn leathers, oxidized metals, twisted materials, bare wires, parts with holes and peeling paint… are looking for each other to come back to life in another form in a new world. Come and discover or redisover the work of Stéphane Halleux. About fourty pieces lent by private collectors will be exhibited on that occasion.
• Varnishing : Friday 9th April 2010 from 18 pm until 19.30 pm. Galerie d’Art Schortgen Sam Van OlffenHe describes his illustrations as graphic sampling because, just like a DJ of images, he extracts pictorial components out of their context in order to create his own visual melody. As part of the 28th Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival, he invites you to enter his poetic, retro-futuristic trash universe. S.V.O. lives and works in Montpellier, a city in the South of France. He considers himself a tiny gear within the machine of the world. He likes thermonuclear bombs, web-footed birds and cathedrals. To view his works visit http://vanolffen.blogspot.com • Varnishing : Friday 9th April 2010 from 18 pm until 19.30 pm. Tel : +33-6-86.73.32.67 |
