Julien Meert: Screensavers

KRIEG? university gallery, PXL-MAD School of Arts (Hasselt, BE), 5 March— 24 April, 2020

Due to COVID-19-related circumstances, this exhibition was partly reconceived as an online viewing room. Watch the videos on the website of GLEAN magazine.

In this new commission, artist Julien Meert introduced movement into his images, through both digital and analogue animation. This is his debut with the moving image, and you can see him (literally) breaking a sweat for it. In several videos, the artist a.k.a. the protagonist is engaging in monotonous physical activities, setting the rhythm for the silent choreography of the video. Meert deploys repetition as a strategy that allows him to de-dramatise actions and turn them into patterns, looping idly in the background. Each scene is set in a different eccentric environment, combining the aesthetics of a synth-pop music video or an old-school video game with elements native to Art Deco architecture that Brussels takes pride in. Brimming with elaborate and at times absurd details – all of which have been crafted manually – Screensavers presents a humorous and witty take on the artist’s plight.

With a commissioned text by writer and curator Alicja Melzacka.