Simple Present

Bert Danckaert took the eighty-six photographs in this book across eighteen cities on four continents between 2007 and 2013. Depending on the spectator's empathy, Danckaert's photographs may be read on formal or documentary levels, or both. He turns ordinary, often unrecognizable fragments of urban reality into extraordinary works that reveal a profound knowledge and understanding of the history of modern art, especially its painterly, narrative, conceptual and constructivist currents. Inge Henneman, former curator of the Museum of Photography in Antwerp and professor of the history of photography at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in the same city, wrote of his work: Bert Danckaert's bizarre cityscapes deal with the paradox of non-figurative simplicity, as well as with the complexity of meaning and metaphor. His 'urban still-lives' breathe a kind of strangeness that can only emanate from the familiar. 'Found' sidewalks, walls, and 'street furniture' refer more to minimalist art than to the conventions of documentary photography. In his absurd compositions, a recognizable and banal reality appears as a stage set, props and trompe l'oeil included, while the actors are absent .