Author Description

Since the early 1990s, Monique Thomaes has been investigating how the perception and experience of architectural spaces can be intensified, slowed down or questioned. For this she uses video, photography, light projection and reflective materials such as glass or mirrors. By uniting the parameters of building, visitors and artistic intervention, she heightens the sensations of and interactions between time and space. Her aesthetic strategy can be called purified and minimalist. The technological, sculptural or architectural interventions do not essentially transform the given space, but offer an alternative perspective. In the process, the functional dimension of the space is temporarily removed, making way for an aesthetic experience. In her questioning and fertilisation of space, Thomaes regularly uses linguistic concepts. These provide her with the conceptual tools she needs to interact carefully with the environment and the scenography of the space. Because her working method is essentially site-specific, it is also limited in time and space. The visual documentation of her interventions guarantees their continued existence. Therefore, the publication of this documentation, next to a walk through Thomaes' world of ideas, in a book form guarantees that her interventions come to life in another physical space--that of the book and the page.