Emmanuel Van der Auwera

A Certain Amount of Clarity, dat dezelfde titel draagt als zijn gelauwerde film uit 2014, is de eerste monografie gewijd aan de kunst van Emmanuel Van der Auwera, wiens oeuvre onze beleving van het digitale leven beschrijft op het snijpunt van documentaire, reconstructie en fictie. Zijn werk belicht de impact van opkomende technologieën op onze perceptie en op onze dialoog met anderen, het ontwikkelt platforms voor gemarginaliseerde actoren en doet een beroep op technici en wetenschappers om de balans tussen ethiek en esthetiek binnen de nieuwe media te verkennen. Via zijn films, VideoSculptures, theaterstukken, prenten en andere media presenteert Van der Auwera ontmoetingen met gevonden beelden die onze visuele geletterdheid ter discussie stellen: hoe werken beelden afkomstig uit de hedendaagse massamedia op diverse doelgroepen in, en met welk doel? Met de formele strakheid van de logicus ontleedt Van der Auwera de manier waarop beelden worden geconstrueerd, gebruikmakend van gespecialiseerde industriële technieken en ingrijpend in hun protocollen. Op die manier brengt Van der Auwera ons niet dichter bij een monolithische waarheid maar creëert hij nieuwe paradigma's voor het lezen van beelden en het inzicht in onze relatie tot deze beelden.
De monografie verkent werken die voortbouwen op de vroege film en is opgedeeld in vier secties, elk van de hand van een andere auteur.
Hans De Wolf (1961), kunsthistoricus, doceert en voert onderzoek naar moderne en hedendaagse kunst, filosofie en esthetiek. Caroline Dumalin is curator aan het WIELS Centrum voor Hedendaagse Kunst in Brussel. Justine Ludwig is Executive Director van Creative Time in New York City. Ive Stevenheydens is curator bij het Argos Centrum voor Kunst en Media in Brussel.

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Eponymously titled with his award winning 2014 film, “A Certain Amount of Clarity” is the first monograph dedicated to the artistic practice of Emmanuel Van der Auwera, whose work describes our experience of digitized life operating at intersections of documentary, reconstruction and fiction. His practice is one that demonstrates the impact of emerging technologies on perception and civic dialogue, building platforms for marginalized actors and engaging with technicians and scientists to explore the balance of ethics and aesthetics in new media. Through filmmaking, video sculpture, theatre, printmaking, and other media, Van der Auwera sets up encounters with found images that provoke a questioning of our visual literacy: How do images of contemporary mass media operate on various publics, and to what end? With the formal rigor of a logician, Van der Auwera dissects how images are engineered, mastering specialized industry techniques and intervening on their protocol. In so doing, Van der Auwera brings us no closer to a monolithic truth, but constructs new paradigms for reading images and understanding our relationships with them.
The artist will be participating in the first Jinan Biennial at the Shandong Art Museum, China, and in the exhibition PHOGOTRAPHY TODAY: RESISTANT FACES at the Pinakothek der Moderne in Munich, Germany. He will also have a solo exhibition at the Haus der elektronischen Künste in Basel, Switzerland, in 2021.

Edited by : Harlan Levey & Amanda Saroff
With contributions from:
Hans De Wolf, art historian, professor and researcher in modern and contemporary art, philosophy and aesthetics.
Caroline Dumalin, artistic director of AAIR, artist residency and studio provider in Antwerp.
Justine Ludwig, Executive Director of Creative Time in New York. Ive Stevenheydens, curator and writer.

Eponymously titled with his award winning 2014 film, "A Certain Amount of Clarity" is the first monograph dedicated to the artistic practice of Emmanuel Van der Auwera whose work describes our experience of digitized life operating at intersections of documentary, reconstruction and fiction. His practice is one that demonstrates the impact of emerging technologies on perception and civic dialogue, building platforms for marginalized actors and engaging with technicians and scientists to explore the balance of ethics and aesthetics in new media. Through filmmaking, video sculpture, theatre, printmaking, and other media, Van der Auwera sets up encounters with found images that provoke a questioning of our visual literacy: How do images of contemporary mass media operate on various publics, and to what end? With the formal rigor of a logician, Van der Auwera dissects how images are engineered, mastering specialized industry techniques and intervening on their protocol. In so doing, Van der Auwera brings us no closer to a monolithic truth, but constructs new paradigms for reading images and understanding our relationships with them.
The monograph moves through works that build on the early film and is broken into 4 main sections, each addressed by a different author.

Eponymously titled with his award winning 2014 film, “A Certain Amount of Clarity” is the first monograph dedicated to the artistic practice of Emmanuel Van der Auwera, whose work describes our experience of digitized life operating at intersections of documentary, reconstruction and fiction. His practice is one that demonstrates the impact of emerging technologies on perception and civic dialogue, building platforms for marginalized actors and engaging with technicians and scientists to explore the balance of ethics and aesthetics in new media. Through filmmaking, video sculpture, theatre, printmaking, and other media, Van der Auwera sets up encounters with found images that provoke a questioning of our visual literacy: How do images of contemporary mass media operate on various publics, and to what end? With the formal rigor of a logician, Van der Auwera dissects how images are engineered, mastering specialized industry techniques and intervening on their protocol. In so doing, Van der Auwera brings us no closer to a monolithic truth, but constructs new paradigms for reading images and understanding our relationships with them.
The artist will be participating in the first Jinan Biennial at the Shandong Art Museum, China, and in the exhibition PHOGOTRAPHY TODAY: RESISTANT FACES at the Pinakothek der Moderne in Munich, Germany. He will also have a solo exhibition at the Haus der elektronischen Künste in Basel, Switzerland, in 2021.