Michaël Borremans

Although originally trained as a photographer and graphic designer, Belgian artist Michaël Borremans (* 1963 in Geraardsbergen) has made a name for himself with absurdly ominous drawings and enigmatic paintings. In 2005, Borremans first presented a film projection as an integral part of a room-filling installation at the Berlin Biennale. His films—shifting tableaux vivants with poetic titles, in which Borremans very gradually creates an oppressive atmosphere with subtle camera work—are closely related to his two-dimensional works in terms of form and subject. Using a fixed camera position or slowly zooming in, he focuses on certain details of the scenery, body parts, faces, or clothing. It remains unclear who these people are or what they are doing. As in his paintings, the images in Borreman’s films balance on the fine line between a recognizable, everyday reality and a bizarre dream world.