Design CommissionsDesign Commissions

Olivier Goethals designed the installation for I See That I See What You Don't See, the Dutch contribution to the 2019 Milan Triennial by Het Nieuwe Instituut.

The Dutch contribution to the 2019 Milan Triennial by Het Nieuwe Instituut uses the complex relationship between light and darkness, and between seeing and not seeing, as the starting point for a better understanding of the contradictory effects of that relationship on people, the earth and other organisms. The project focuses on the all-encompassing nature of the rational landscape, which at the same time manages to make itself relatively invisible.

Olivier Goethals worked closely with graphic designer Rudy Guedj on the design for the exhibition I See That I See What You Don't See. "We were one another's sounding board," says Goethals. "It was a dynamic process characterised by changes down to the last moment." The exhibition assumed the form of a 19th-century panorama - a large painting displayed in a circular fashion - giving it a contemporary interpretation. The walls of this panorama are covered with vertical strips of thick black plastic. The public can push the strips aside at a number of points in order to enter the installation. The strips close behind them, leaving the spectators in a dark space. "Darkness becomes a physical experience," Goethals explains. The only light comes from the projections and a number of TV screens situated in the space. Outside the panorama, the presentation is brightly illuminated. The artworks, in a great variety of forms, are presented in the pockets of the rough wooden construction. From within, the visitor can view these works through openings in the wall of the panorama.

Goethals is an architect and artist. "There isn't much difference between the two for me," he says. "I always try to make things that are autonomous, that can speak for themselves. A spatial design can functional independently as a sculpture and at the same time provide the context for a presentation. It articulates the existing architecture and provides a platform for the works on display. I think a lot about the meaning of space. For example, about the relationship between space and consciousness, including its metaphysical sense. The quality of a space affects how people experience it. I am convinced that the social embitterment we're seeing today is partly the result of the neglect of public space and the way it has surrendered to commerce." He sees design as a big balancing act, juggling all the requirements and his own interpretation of them: "I keep on switching until I'm satisfied. Quality depends on paying maximum attention during the design process. In the case of this installation, it's a question of how you cut out those openings and how you guide people through the space, those are the things that I can steer as a designer. I can get an enormous kick out of this game."

Olivier Goethals (born 1980, lives and works in Ghent) studied architecture and urban design. His architectural interventions and artistic work broadly explore the connections between space and consciousness. He has designed spatial interventions and installations for such locations as Z33 Hasselt, CIAP Hasselt, Extra City Antwerp, Palais de Tokyo Paris, Be-Part Waregem, NUCLEO Ghent and LUCA Ghent. He worked for eight years as a freelance project architect with De Vylder Vinck Taillieu and has taught architecture at the Catholic University Louvain/Leuven since 2010. He has been a guest lecturer at the architecture faculty of the University of Ghent, the LUCA Ghent experimental atelier and the architecture faculty of ETH Zurich. He is responsible for the design and implementation of spatial interventions for the 019 art collective.

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