AlexanderVantournhout / notstanding
FRAMES
How decisive is a frame for a painting? What if you remove the frame? Or conversely, what if you remove the artwork and only look at the frame? In Frames, Alexander Vantournhout explores this relationship between frame and art in a three-part journey at a unique location.
At BROEK 2026, he places his physical sculptures and picture frames among the flowering rose beds and garlands of wisteria in the Rose Garden of Vrijbroekpark: a brand-new setting for the festival.
Alexander Vantournhout and his three fellow performers once again focus on body art in its purest form. The four performers meticulously construct ever-changing body sculptures within the viewing frames. Bodies intertwine, hang from and climb on the frames, walk upside down and defy gravity and your imagination. Every movement is a continuous search for balance, to which cooperation and body control are central.
The audience can see all this from all angles: from the front, from the side and even from below. Perspectives tilt, physical logic seems to disappear. Frames invites you on a journey through choreographic installations that challenge and blend art and viewing perspectives into physical poetry in public space.
““This is powerfully minimalist circus. Impressive in all its austerity. Because this is austerity that requires tremendous muscle power and absurdly precise coordination of every muscle fibre in the body.”
Concept & choreografie: Alexander Vantournhout• gecreëerd met & uitgevoerd door: Chia-Hung Chung, Axel Guérin, Emmi Väisänen & Alexander Vantournhout • dramaturgie: Sébastien Hendrickx & Rudi Laermans • research collaborators: Charlotte Cétaire, Mélusine Lavinet-Drouet, Petra Steindl & Esse Vanderbruggen • kostuums: Patty Eggerickx geassisteerd door: Coline Paquet en Isabelle Airaud • prints: Daniel Henry Studio • metalen constructies: Willy Cauwelier • houten constructies: Bram Dobbelaere • tourplanning: Frans Brood Productions • company management: Esther Maas • techniek: Bram Vandeghinste, Bert Van Dijck, Lukas Vanhoutte • techniek op tour: Bram Vandeghinste, Bert Van Dijck, Siebe Coorevits, Lukas Vanhoutte • productie & tourmanagement: Janne Coonen & Kiki Verschueren • communicatie: Kiki Verschueren • productie: Not Standing • co-productie: Kunstencentrum VIERNULVIER Gent (BE), De Hallen van Schaarbeek (BE), Le CENTQUATRE (Parijs), Le Carreau Scène nationale de Forbach et de l'Est mosellan (FR), Scène nationale Carré‑Colonnes Blanquefort (FR) • Gerealiseerd met de steun van de Tax Shelter van de Belgische Federale Overheid, via Flanders Tax Shelter.
Alexander Vantournhout is artiest-in-residentie in Kunstencentrum VIERNULVIER in Gent en artiste associé van le CENTQUATRE in Parijs. Alexander Vantournhout is cultureel ambassadeur van de Stad Roeselare en wordt gesteund door de Vlaamse overheid en Fondation BNP Paribas voor de ontwikkeling van zijn projecten.