Films:
About the artist

Walking through Philippe Vandenberg. Molenbeek (2020-2021)

These talk with artist Nel Aerts, Els Dietvorst and Emilio López-Menchero were held on the Philippe Vandenberg Foundation Instagram and Facebook page. They were a part of the series of unique virtual tours with artists organised on the occasion of the exhibition Philippe Vandenberg. Molenbeek, that was on view in BOZAR, Brussels, from 17 September, 2020, to 24 January, 2021. In the exhibition, the works of Vandenberg took the viewer on a tour of burlesque Molenbeek: an imaginary site where personal and collective traumas become entangled with metropolitan problems and global conflicts.

Production Philippe Vandenberg Foundation
Colour

A Conversation with Pélagie Gbaguidi (2020)

This short film documents the exhibition Philippe Vandenberg. Molenbeek that was on view in BOZAR, Brussels, from 17 September, 2020, to 24 January, 2021. Contextualization is provided by artist Pélagie Gbaguidi, who elaborates on the affinities between her work and that of Vandenberg. In the exhibition, the works of Vandenberg took the viewer on a tour of burlesque Molenbeek: an imaginary site where personal and collective traumas become entangled with metropolitan problems and global conflicts.

Production BOZAR
Colour

A Conversation with the Children of Philippe Vandenberg (2020)

This short film documents the exhibition Philippe Vandenberg. Molenbeek that was on view in BOZAR, Brussels, from 17 September, 2020, to 24 January, 2021. Contextualisation is provided by Hélène, Guillaume and Mo Vandenberghe, the children of the artist, who elaborate on Philippe Vandenberg’s Molenbeek-years. In the exhibition, the works of Vandenberg took the viewer on a tour of burlesque Molenbeek: an imaginary site where personal and collective traumas become entangled with metropolitan problems and global conflicts.

Production BOZAR
Colour

Philippe Vandenberg. Kamikaze (2018)

This short film documents the retrospective Philippe Vandenberg. Kamikaze, that was on view in the Hamburger Kunsthalle from November 16, 2018, until February 24, 2019. Contextualisation is provided by curator Dr. Brigitte Kölle, who elaborates on the central theme of the retrospective.  She explains how kamikaze describes the artist’s drastic working methods and results, a basic precept of which is that creativity is only possible through the deliberate destruction of what has gone before. On view during the exhibition was a highly diverse and multifaceted body of paintings and works on paper: early figurative depictions are supplanted by Expressionist renderings, monochromatic pictures and abstract geometric overpaintings follow on the heels of graffiti-like pieces.

Director Guillaume Vandenberghe
Production Hamburger Kunsthalle & Philippe Vandenberg Foundation
Colour

Philippe Vandenberg. Kamikaze (2018)

These short video clips were created on the occasion of the retrospective Philippe Vandenberg. Kamikaze, that was on view in the Hamburger Kunsthalle from November 16, 2018, until February 24, 2019. The title of the exhibition, Kamikaze, described the artist’s drastic working methods and results, a basic precept of which is that creativity is only possible through the deliberate destruction of what has gone before. On view was a highly diverse and multifaceted body of paintings and works on paper: early figurative depictions were supplanted by Expressionist renderings, monochromatic pictures and abstract geometric overpaintings followed on the heels of graffiti-like pieces.

Directors Guillaume Vandenberghe and Neel Cockx
Production Hamburger Kunsthalle & Philippe Vandenberg Foundation
Colour

Philippe Vandenberg at Hauser & Wirth New York (2017)

This short film documents the exhibition Philippe Vandenberg that was on view in Hauser & Wirth New York, 69th Street, from June 27 to July 28, 2017. Contextualisation is provided by curator Anthony Huberman and the artist’s daughter, Hélène Vandenberghe, elaborating on the work and life of Philippe Vandenberg. On view for the first time was a complete example of one of Vandenberg’s drawing books, which reveals an intimate, diary-like form of expression. In stark contrast to the immediacy of his works on paper, a selection of his late monochromatic abstract paintings showed the artist often painting over earlier works, building up layers of images and colors.

Production Hauser & Wirth
Colour

Philippe Vandenberg at Hauser & Wirth New York (2017)

This short film documents the exhibition ‘Philippe Vandenberg’ that was on view in Hauser & Wirth New York, 69th Street, from 27 June to 28 July, 2017. Curated by Anthony Huberman, a complete example of one of Vandenberg’s drawing books was on view for the first time, revealing an intimate, diary-like form of expression. In stark contrast to the immediacy of his works on paper, a selection of his late monochromatic abstract paintings showed the artist often painting over earlier works, building up layers of images and colors.

Director Guillaume Vandenberghe
Production Philippe Vandenberg Foundation

L’âme est vagabonde, Les frères Zarakoff (2015)

L’âme est vagabonde (The Soul Wanders) is the last part in the trilogy dedicated to Philippe Vandenberg by filmmaker Guillaume Vandenberghe, the artist’s son, and Raphaël Kolacz. On June 29, 2009, the painter committed suicide in his apartment in Brussels. His son returned to the apartment – a work space turned into a drama scene – and filmed the traces left by the painter, the lover and the father. Wandering from object to object, like a ghost, he makes us penetrate into this dark and provocative universe, evoking the last hours of a man facing his pains and colors.

Directors Guillaume Vandenberghe, Raphaël Kolacz
Music Thomas Smetryns
Montage Effi Weiss
Production Les frères Zarakoff
Colour, 9’

Rencontre avec Berlinde de Bruyckere et Helene Vandenberg, Jean-Nicolas Schoeser (2014)

These four thematic films document the duo exhibition Berlinde de Bruyckere & Philippe Vandenberg: Il me faut tout oublier that was on view in La Maison Rouge, Paris, from February 13 to May 11, 2014. Contextualisation is provided by Berlinde de Bruyckere and the artist’s daughter, Hélène Vandenberghe, elaborating on the kinship between the œuvres of both artists. Curated by de Bruyckere, who had a longstanding interest in Vandenberg’s work, a selection of his paintings and drawings were shown alongside her own three-dimensional works and works on paper. For La Maison Rouge, and to echo Vandenberg’s work, she produced seven new wax sculptures whose forms suggest tree trunks as much as bandaged bodies under duress.

Director Jean-Nicolas Schoeser
Music Paul Pitman
Production 
La Maison Rouge
Colour

Innocence is precisely: never to avoid the worst (2012)

This short film documents the exhibition Berlinde de Bruyckere & Philippe Vandenberg: Innocence is precisely: never to avoid the worst, that was on view in De Pont, Tilburg, between 30 June and 25 November, 2012. Curated by de Bruyckere, she engaged in a dialogue with the work of Vandenberg. In a carefully considered presentation she showed a personal selection of his paintings and drawings, in combination with her own watercolors and several sculptures that had not been exhibited in Europe before.

Camera Virginie Surdej
Music Thomas Smetryns
Montage Guillaume Vandenberghe
Production Philippe Vandenberg Foundation
Colour

Jardin Noir, Les frères Zarakoff (2009)

Jardin Noir (Black Garden) is the second part in the trilogy dedicated to Philippe Vandenberg by filmmakers Guillaume Vandenberghe, the son of the artist, and Raphaël Kolacz. The film makes a nocturnal incursion into the painter’s studio and shows, in a fragmentary way, his painting materials, pieces of canvases and everyday objects, as lit by a flashlight. Shot on 16mm in black and white the film was made in the spirit of the artist’s sketching books: free, rough, uncensored and without the use of digital technology.

Directors Guillaume Vandenberghe, Raphaël Kolacz
Music Thomas Smetryns
Montage Vincent Coen
Production Les frères Zarakoff
Colour, 10’

pijl links
Films: With the artist