“2099 shows images of remembrance linked to my perception on the constant evolution of history and its repetitive character. Deconstructed places and manipulated icons are working on an associative basis to create a new overview of the present. I’m experimenting with what is staged and what is not and how a photographer can interfere in the landscape by working on an underlying lyricism in the images. The work can both be seen as a prophecy for the future as well as a desire to the past. Some photographs are taken by chance and close to home, other were chosen to photograph on fixed historical locations and metropoles.”

2099 will be released as a book through Art Paper Editions on the 22nd of March in Ghent, Belgium, accompanying a solo exhibition at RIOT Gallery. For more information and book preorders visit — sybrenvanoverberghe.com

Sybren Vanoverberghe (°1996, Kortrijk) is currently following the Master programme in photography at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Ghent, Belgium. Next to this he’s an intern at the Italian publishing house Akina Books. Since 2017 he is the co-founder of Pinguin, a project space showing art based on the medium of photography in Brussels. His most recent work 2099 has been influenced by the writings of German writer W.G. Sebald, especially in the method of working and combining different historical places together with images of (collective) remembrance. Deconstructed places and manipulated icons are working on an associative basis to create a new overview of the present. The aforementioned deconstructing is necessary in his work before being able to reconstruct again by sequencing and combining the different photographs in one and the same project. His work is based on the constant rise and fall of places and the cyclical character of history. This balance between wandering at historical and random places results in projects where you can feel the psychogeography that had an influence on the photographer’s decisions. Recurring motifs in his works are elements of history, nature, human legacy and the apocalyptic atmosphere that is often coming back in different series. The documentary character of an image is less important compared to the demystification of the subject photographed. His process of working is starkly influenced by the fact that each image has to be autonomous in its visual representation. Currently he is working on a new project around the theme of Iconoclasm where he is combining the medium of photography amongst sculptures, sketches and found materials.