THINGS YOU CAN REARRANGE

THINGS YOU CAN REARRANGE is about moving things in different contexts, in different realities. It deals with a form of collecting and gathering of objects that seems both logical and illogical, in a staging that appears simultaneously normal and confounding.

THINGS YOU CAN REARRANGE also reads as a homage to Raymond Tweelinckx, to the memory of the father of Roeland Tweelinckx, both to his death at the end of last year and to the irrevocable progression of his aphasia, a dormant brain disorder that took on different forms over time.

In a parallel universe, Raymond and Roeland are both separated and connected, like father and son, each with a language of their own. In the father’s case, it is a mysterious language in which the search for words could lead to funny situations yet also cause a lot of frustration. Raymond devised a language in which his trying to understand what is meant became an imaginative world where everything diverges into different directions or things appear in different orders. In Roeland’s case it is a self-chosen act, a concentration in which things are assembled to create a sculptural object, a sound visual language wherein the combining of objects not only provokes a humorous response, but also induces reflection.

In the past few years, Roeland Tweelinckx consciously started to live in sync with his father, following his rhythm, and has, while gradually losing control of his world, always felt a special closeness, an intense bond that eventually no longer required any words. The impact of the eventual physical disappearance of his presence was heart-breaking and its processing even led to a certain indignation. His urgency to sort things out is clearly evident in this exhibition: using common materials in his interventions, he plays subtly with the environment and the power of observation. His work acquires a magical non-everydayness that creates a slight sense of confusion yet at the same time invites a more focused view of reality.

He aims to rearrange and reorganise the provided things, detect changes and juxtapose layers of meaning in a stripped-down and pure visual language, which can be both practicable and non-functional: a vase is a base, a lamp bends with a tempting look, a heating element floats and a beam moves. He rebuilds the world to his liking, soft and friendly, contrary and balanced, attentive and definitely urgent.

– Els Wuyts

Read more about Roeland Tweelinckx