Space is a given in the world of visual arts. Visual art engages in the creation of two- or three-dimensional spaces. The spectator can either graze the surface with his eyes or move around in it. In an art historical sense, these were often representations of the existing world, of visible reality. Since modernism, we find spatiality purified in abstractions, in distortions of cubism or in visual illusions of surrealism. However much the technicality of geometric perspective has left its mark on what was academically permitted within the framework, artistic freedom has gladly taken a run at it.

The title of this exhibition alludes to a statement by the philosopher Walter Benjamin about the aura of natural objects: "the unique appearance of a distance, however close it may be". We experience the aura of the things around us in the here and now. But every work of art also has a here and now: its one-time existence in the place where it is located.

Four artists elaborate on a specific aspect of spatiality.

Peter Weidenbaum paints the beauty of transience by looking in his created biotope beyond any opposition between nature and culture. With suggestions of threat, tension or shimmering, he gives a place a chilled atmosphere.

In the colourful paintings of Elise Berkvens, the idea of a well-defined space disappears. Various worlds shift into each other. Familiar interiors are suddenly alienated by abstract surfaces that fold back on themselves.

Marcel Hoeben is concerned with the way in which - from a surrealist perspective - random objects in a 'chance' encounter lead to surprising effects. His art refers to mystical-religious reflections.

The paintings and drawings of Mike Carremans question the relationship between copy and reality: how do they relate to each other? They are not even remnants of originals, but copies that are each other's mirror image. Traces of his daily environment meander through his work in order to discover new layers of meaning.

Curated by: Joannes Késenne