The Oostende International Photobiennale features works from thirty Belgian, Dutch and French photographers. The biennale runs from the beginning of September until late October and work is displayed at twenty-eight locations throughout the city including several galleries and museums as well as large, outdoor installations. As I was only in Oostende for a short time I was not able to view much of the work and whilst I found some of it to be quite trite, I liked that the exhibition was in large part displayed in public sites, thus enabling people to engage with the work without having a specific interest in photography.
Some of the work I came across was by Belgian photographer Filip Dujardin.
I think these images are from his series Fictions which he began creating in 2008. What I like about the images is the fact that for a split second you think you are looking at aphotograph of a real building rather than one created by the artist, I also like the way they have been displayed, the justaposition with their surrounds and the way that they look like giant Polaroids.
Rudd Van Empel is a Dutch artist and photogapher whose work was on display. My feelings about his work are mixed, initially I thought his digital collages were very obvious, however, having looked again at his work I have warmed to them slightly but still find the obviousness and lack of ambiguity detracts from the work.
Work by Belgian photogapher Kaat Pype was also on public display on the esplanade by the beach.
At the Mu.Zee, the museum in Oostende specialising in modern and contemporary Belgian art, there was an exhibition of work by Julie Scheurweghs.The exhibition, Birth of a Mother, was a no-holds-barred series examining pregnancy, birth and motherhood and was the only work that I saw that could be described as documentary.
After a long period of not being able to visit museum or galleries it was good to see work in real life rather than on a screen and I wish I had had longer in Oostende to explore the other works in the exhibition.
Documentary, Fact & Fiction 