Hans Theys is een twintigste-eeuws filosoof en kunsthistoricus. Hij schreef en ontwierp tientallen boeken over het werk van hedendaagse kunstenaars en publiceerde honderden essays, interviews en recensies in boeken, catalogi en tijdschriften. Al deze publicaties zijn gebaseerd op samenwerkingen of gesprekken met de kunstenaars in kwestie.

Dit platform werd samengesteld door Evi Bert (M HKA / Centrum Kunstarchieven Vlaanderen). Het kwam tot stand in samenwerking met de Koninklijke Academie voor Schone Kunsten in Antwerpen (Onderzoeksgroep ArchiVolt), M HKA, Antwerpen en Koen Van der Auwera. Met dank aan Idris Sevenans (HOR) en Marc Ruyters (Hart Magazine).

VIDEO

(c)video still: Hans Theys, 2009
Philippe Vandenberg - Witness for the Prosecution [video], 2009
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.