Hans Theys

Hans Theys is a twentieth-century philosopher and art historian. He has written and designed dozens of books on the works of contemporary artists and published hundreds of essays, interviews and reviews in books, catalogues and magazines. All his publications are based on actual collaborations and conversations with artists.

This platform was developed by Evi Bert (M HKA / Centrum Kunstarchieven Vlaanderen) in collaboration with the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp (Research group Archivolt), M HKA, Antwerp and Koen Van der Auwera. We also thank Idris Sevenans (HOR) and Marc Ruyters (Hart Magazine).

VIDEO

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(c)video still: Hans Theys, 2009

Philippe Vandenberg - Witness for the Prosecution [video], 2009

Hans Theys

Video , 00:37:23

In this video we meet the artist Philippe Vandenberg in his studio in January 2009, a few months before his unexpected death. 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’. At the end of the film Vandenberg returns to this term and concept to characterize the artist Vincent Van Gogh.

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

This newly edited and subtitled version of the video was shown for the first time during the show ‘Philippe Vandenberg’, curated by Anthony Huberman for Hauser & Wirth, New York, 69th Street, 27 Jun – 28 Jul 2017.

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