Martin Desloovere

Storytelling has always been central in my life: an interest (and studies) in literature and writing brought me to work in the theatre, which in turn enabled me to explore all kinds of other languages: not only words, but also sounds, music, lighting, two-and three-dimensional visual elements…

The most fascinating stories to me are those raising questions, making us wonder about our lives, our “condition humaine”. Stories which have a suggestive power: not taking the “audience” by the hand from start to clearly defined (happy) end, but rather evoking a myriad of thoughts, interpretations, emotions...

All my artistic activities have this poetic, suggestive and questioning exploration in common.

The series of “City eScapes” looks at the way we scurry through our (city) lives, all the while reducing the urban environment to a number of vague visual (and aural) impressions, to quite abstract images, fuzzily discernable as though they were dreamscapes (quite nightmarish though). Only the 'obstacles' tend to become somewhat more real, for just an annoying second or so: other people, for example, barely present as actual human beings, only perceived as ghostlike yet hindering.

Each “City eScape” consists of three images selected from a vast collection of photographs taken, edited and combined in ways that reflect our perception while hectically scurrying around. At the same time each combination tries to offer a starting point to reflect upon that (daily) habit, as well as a possibility to go beyond it:
- by confronting us with how we usually perceive without really seeing;
- by suggesting colourful alternative ways in which we could look and see;
- by hinting at the suggestive powers of and stories contained within the cityscapes and the blurry, ghostlike human figures - including our own.

Martin D.

NOTE:
The ”City eScapes” were designed for the LEGAL U.S. paper format. For best results, we suggest that people in countries where other formats are in use, first cut a larger sheet (e.g. A3-size) to LEGAL U.S. measurements (20.32x35.56 cm/8x14 inch) - most printers have a setting for LEGAL U.S. size.