Hans Op de Beeck works across many disciplines. In addition to creating sculptures, immersive environments, short films, paintings, and drawings, he writes, directs, and designs sets for theater and opera and composes music. He is best known for his monochromatic installations, which induce a sense of tranquility, from which questions begin to emerge about what we, as human beings, do. “The Quiet Parade,” his recent exhibition at Helsinki’s Amos Rex Museum, swept viewers into an absorbing fictional environment made up of a host of mysterious settings accompanied by a rich soundscape. For curator Terhi Tuomi, the installation and architecture combined into a single realm echoing the real world and alienating us. The eccentric range of proportions in Op de Beeck’s work commands attention and destabilizes memories of how things look and feel.
John Gayer: Could you explain a bit about how “The Quiet Parade” took shape?
Hans Op de Beeck: I was invited to Helsinki to realize an exhibition five years ago. It seemed extremely early to be beginning, and I remember thinking, “I hope I’m still alive then.” At the time, the Amos Rex building was brand new, and from the moment I entered, I perceived it as a landscape-like space. . .
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