Olivier Goethals
The practice of Olivier Goethals revolves a lot around spatial interventions. They are mostly self-built structures which relate directly to the existing built environment. The object of interest hence becomes the redefined, charged space between the new and the given. Goethals aims to maximize the potential of space by creating open environments for future use; new stages for prospective happenings.
Hereby, he focuses on increasing the awareness of visitors, to enhance their presence as observers in the here and now. Sentiency, the sensory ability of organisms or agents to feel and to experience the environment, is a very specific spatial quality. The treatment of space is then of major significance to bring sentient beings closer to being, to consciousness itself. In this, the (art)world functions as the playful place of spatial experiment.
True creative action has in its core a spatial-temporal element. A creative action can be understood as a causal expression of spatial empathy; because the act of creating itself is rooted in a space-like emptiness. True creative action is never an expression of one's personal thoughts; it flows from the impersonal depth through the space in between those thoughts. Like breathing, creative action happens.
