Ruben Bellinkx
Born in Wilrijk (Belgium) in 1975, lives and works in Bruxelles (Belgium).

On Screening: Stasis
HD colour film, single screen, 12 minutes, continuous projection, no sound - 2013
Courtesy Ruben Bellinkx / Geukens & De Vil

In recent years animals were important actors in the work of Ruben Bellinkx. He made several drawings, installations and films in which animals have a particular relationship with a table, a chair, an object or an architecture. The main issue in these works was the attempt to accustom the animals to a domestic setting; the junction of nature and culture, the visualisation of the tragical interweave of the animal with human culture. (The Table Turning, 2006, The Musical Chair, 2007, The Trophy, 2010).
In the experimental film Stasis Bellinkx goes even further.Instead of showing animals in an oppressive domestic situation, several male figures are stuck in a structure within the limits of their possibilities.
In this movie it’s not any longer about the border between nature and culture but about the fading thin line between the object and the subject where the physical conditions of the subject are being questioned.
A table is one of the most essential pieces of furniture in a house; it is an object where people eat, talk, meet, work...
In Stasis, anonymous men maintain a strange dialogue with a table which is used in its functional, metaphorical and objective meaning. Although these men cannot eat nor talk it is very obvious a certain kind of dialogue takes place. The presence of each individual is absolutely required to keep the construction/conversation solid and ongoing.
The table as a metaphore for the dialogue becomes a silent matrix for the individual and literal materialisation of the discourse. By showing men in uniform black suites in an undefined dark room lit only by a soft light coming from above, the meeting gets a ceremonial secret character; a solemn and mystic gathering that remains unintelligible for the viewer. It is as if we watch a ritual or seance where men with supernatural gifts dialogue with each other in total silence. The absence of sound enforces the feeling of an indefinable oppressive atmosphere.


RECENT SOLO SHOWS

2013 ‘Stasis’ Be-Part, Platform For Contemporary Art, Waregem
2013 ‘Museum to scale 1/7’ Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Brussels
2012 ‘Uniquely human’ Geukens & De Vil, Knokke
2011 ‘Domesticated Conditions’ Nestruimte, Den Haag
2011 ‘The Trophy’ Maskara, Mumbai
2010 ‘The Trophy’ Geukens & De Vil, Antwerp
2010 ‘Play/Display’ gallery Commune de l’E.R.S.E.P, Tourcoing
2007 ‘Poging tot gewenning aan het huiselijke’ Geukens & De Vil, Antwerp
2005 ‘Ruben Bellinkx - Alien Oosting’, Hedah, Maastricht
2003 ‘Arno Nollen – Ruben Bellinkx’, Aorta, Chisinau

RECENT (SELECTED) GROUP SHOWS

2014 ‘A Simple Plan’ Villa T.D.R from architect Stehane Beel, Kruiskerke
2014 ‘Het Wonderkabinet’ University Library Ghent
2014 ‘Museum to scale 1/7’ The Baker Museum, Artis - Naples, Florida
2014 ‘Archive Fever’ project space Studioart, Antwerpen
2014 ‘Wunderkammer 2014’ in art space TETEM, Enschede
2014 ‘Fatamorgana’ Ikob, Museum For Contemporary art Eupen
2013 ‘Museum to scale 1/7’ Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Brussels
2013 ‘Dublin Doubles’, Voorkamer in Broadcast Gallery, Dublin
2013 ‘Meet the animal’ festival, ‘Grand T’ theatre Nantes
2012 ‘Het Kunstwerk, een gebruiksaanwijzing’ Kunst-Zicht, Technicum, Ghent
2012 ‘Are the limits of my language, the limits of my world?’ Maskara invites Geukens & De Vil, Mumbai
2012 ‘Huiselijke Storingen’ CC Aarschot
2012 ‘Ride gently over the bridge’ gallery Noorus, Tartu
2012 ‘Huiselijke Storingen’ cultural house Aarschot
2012 Art Festival Watou, Watou
2011 ‘Effetto-Marey’ Villa Romana, Florence
2011 ‘Voorkamer au brasseurs’ Les Brasseurs L’annexe, Liege
2011 ‘Het negende salon’ Piano Museum Maene, Ruislede
2010 ‘The Experimental Waitingroom’ Cascolab, Apeldoorn
2010 ‘When will they finally see the power of drawing’ Geukens & De Vil, Antwerp
2010 ‘Zweierlei’ Ausstellungsraum Klingental, Basel
2010 ‘Cuesta 10’ actuele kunst in Tielt’ Tielt
2010 ‘Lucht is tastbaarder dan mijn gedachte’ kasteel Oud-Rekem
2010 ‘Art Amsterdam’ Geukens & De Vil, Amsterdam
2010 ‘Mash up’ Kunsthalle Dominikanerkirche, European Media Art Festival, Osnabrück
2010 ‘Everything is Real: After Life...’ Maskara, Mumbai
2010 ‘Guestroom # 10 Hisk’ Het Domein, Museum for Contemporary Art in Sittard
2009 ‘Cabinet’ Z33, museum for contemporary art in Hasselt
2009 ‘Short Tracks’ Wiels, museum for contemporary art in Brussels
2009 ‘Business is still business’ Centre Culturel Les Chiroux, Liege

RECENT FILM & VIDEO FESTIVALS

2013 KASK cinema Ghent
2013 Cinema OFF/OFF Ghent
2011 ‘Commercial Break’ Nuit Blanche Festival New York
2011 ‘Commercial Break’ La Biennale di Venezia, Venice
2008: ‘Out of office’ Code#, Brussel
2007 ‘Atjehfilm-avonden’ Lokaal 01, Antwerpen
2005 ‘Dutch Open’ International festival for Dutch Film en Video Art, de Balie and Montevideo - Time Based Art, Amsterdam
2004 ‘The young artist biennial Bucharest’, Meta Cultural Foundation en Goethe Institute Bukarest
2004 ‘Festival der Nationen’ short film festival, Ebensee
2004 ‘Courtisane’, shortfilm festival Gent
2004 ’Illuminating Shadows’ experimental films out the Netherlands, Graz
2003 ‘Troissoeur’ video installation for live-show by Belgium music group Troissoeur, Ancienne Belgique, Brussels
2002 ‘18th shortfilm festival Hamburg’ Hamburg
2001 ‘Impakt video festival’ Centraal Museum, Utrecht

WEB
www.rubenbellinkx.com