Films:
With the artist

Getuige ten laste, Hans Theys (2009)

Getuige ten laste (Witness for the Prosecution) is a filmed interview between Philippe Vandenberg and art critic Hans Theys. For 40 minutes the camera swerves through his studio, filming drawings, paintings, books, photographs and other objects scattered about while the artist is talking about his work. The central thought holds that Philippe Vandenberg considers himself to be a ‘witness for the prosecution’, which is described as ‘témoin à charge’ or ‘getuige ten laste’ in French and Dutch, implying a kind of ‘burden’.

This talk was published as Getuige ten laste. Enkele woorden van Philippe Vandenberg.

Director Hans Theys
Color, NL

Een schilder is als Œdipus onderweg, Julien Vandevelde (2004)

Een schilder is als Œdipus onderweg (A Painter Is as Œdipus on the Road) is a documentary on the work and mindset of Philippe Vandenberg by filmmaker Julien Vandevelde. From 1999 onwards, on the occasion of his retrospective exhibition at MUHKA (Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst Antwerpen), until 2004, Vandevelde captured the artist working and reflecting in his studio. Documenting the motives, methods and layers of meaning of his art and artistry, the film provides an intimate image of Vandenberg.

Director Julien Vandevelde
Production Cavalier Seul
Color, NL

Drawings of a Painter, Julien Vandevelde (2004)

Drawings of a Painter is a fragment of the documentary Een schilder is als Œdipus onderweg (A Painter Is as Œdipus on the Road) by filmmaker Julien Vandevelde. From 1999 onwards, on the occasion of his retrospective exhibition at MUHKA (Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst Antwerpen), until 2004, Vandevelde captured the artist working and reflecting in his studio. In this fragment, shot in his studio in the Stokerijstraat in Ghent, Vandenberg elaborates on the significance of the drawing within his œuvre and for him as a person.

Director Julien Vandevelde
Production Cavalier Seul
Color, NL

La lettre au nègre, Les Frères Zarakoff (2003)

La Lettre au Nègre (Letter to the Nigger) is the first part of the trilogy dedicated to Philippe Vandenberg by filmmakers Guillaume Vandenberghe, the artist’s son, and Raphaël Kolacz. Structured around Vandenberg’s essay of the same name, in which the painter formulated his existential doubts and questions, the film goes beyond his pictorial practice. Rhymed on his own words, the camera goes back and forth between the studio, the world and the painter’s face, linking the motives his doubt navigated between.

Directors Guillaume Vandenberghe, Raphaël Kolacz
Voice François Beukelaers
Music Thomas Smetryns
Piano Daan Vande Walle
Sound  Alexandre Davidson
Production  Les frères Zarakoff
Color, 9’, FR

pijl rechts
Films: About the artist