Daan Gielis’ (°1988) work explores the conflicts and contradictions in the emotional, communicative and social systems that together make up the world as we know it: happiness and sadness coinciding, a frustration of desire that only triggers new desire, an underground culture that stays authentic while selling out… Each of these systems is riddled by contradiction. And yet, precisely because of those internal contradictions these systems thrive, contrasting feelings feed off of each other, setting in motion a never-ending cyclical process from which no escape seems possible. No wonder then that so many of us are emotionally conflicted about present reality, struggling to find consistency. Gielis documents that struggle. Taking his own conflicting experiences and sentiments as a starting point, he registrates mutually exclusive feelings that contradict each other while also keeping each other alive. Searching for consistency – and perhaps even for a way out of the contradictory world we live in – will not be an easy task, Gielis’ work suggests. The work assures us that there will be no simple solutions.
Daan Gielis