Sybren Vanoverberghe

Sybren Vanoverberghe was born in 1996 in Kortrijk, Belgium. He lives in Ghent, BE and works in Otegem, BE. Vanoverberghe mainly works with the photographic medium but also with found materials he collects at scrapyards. The work of Vanoverberghe shows the landscape and its remnants in a constant state of change. The correlation between place and time is shown in works where history, nature and heritage collide. The photographs of Vanoverberghe were taken both at places with historical importance and at industrial or ordinary sites. His work confronts presets of existing structures with what could be seen as artefacts of the future. Vanoverberghe’s works are highly anachronistic, certain images, for example, represent a past that has never existed.

In his books, Vanoverberghe often works around the cyclical aspect of particular sites that are no longer geographically situated. The work poses hypothetical questions going back and forth in time in an equal measure. When, for instance, can an image be considered a document of the past and when can it be seen as a prophecy for the future? There is a constant tension between accepting images as documents of the past and denying those which appear to be prophecies for the future.

Vanoverberghe received his master’s degree from KASK, Ghent (BE) in 2019. His works are published in books such as 2099 (2018), Conference of the Birds (2019), 1099 (2020) and Sandcastles and Rubbish (2021) by publishing house APE (Art Paper Editions). Vanoverberghe had solo exhibitions at Riot, Ghent (BE) (2018), Stieglitz19, Antwerp (BE) (2018 & 2019), Deweer Gallery, Otegem (BE) (2020) and Keteleer Gallery, Antwerp, (BE) (2021). His works were shown at the Unseen Photo Fair, Amsterdam (NL) (2019), Antwerp Art, Antwerp (BE) (2021) and were part of the duo exhibition The Flower and the Vessel with Thomas Vandenberghe at De Brakke Grond, Amsterdam (NL) (2020). Vanoverberghe participated in various group exhibitions including: To Infinity and Beyond at Breda Photo, Breda (NL); ’33 days off’ at Fomu, Antwerp (BE), Staycation and XL at Barbé Urbain, Ghent (BE) and showed his series Conference of the Birds at the Cultural Centre, Yangzhou (CN). He collaborated with Belgian fashion brand Ann Demeulemeester (2018) and Belgian music band Whispering Sons (2020). His works have been published on various platforms such as American Suburb X, Photoworks UK, De Tijd, De Volkskrant, Paper Journal, Gup Magazine and the PHmuseum. In addition to his own practice, Vanoverberghe is the co-curator and co-founder of NO/Gallery, Ghent (BE) and the founder of BACKYARD, a new exhibition platform in his studio for young artists in collaboration with the Deweer Gallery Estate.

In March 2022 he will have a duo exhibition together with Manor Grunewald at Barbé Urbain, Ghent (BE) and his works will be included in the group exhibition ‘Tribute to Panamarenko’ at Platform6A/Keteleer Gallery, Otegem (BE).

Image: Wave of Stone, 2020, Archival pigment print, 98 x 78,4 cm, Ed. 3 + 1 AP

Sybren Vanoverberghe website