Saturday, 17/10/2026

Saturday, 17/10/2026

Belgian photographer opens first solo show ‘The State of Things’ in Hanoi

Sunday, 09:48, 16/11/2025

VOV.VN - Belgian photographer Bert Danckaert’s first solo exhibition, “The State of Things,” now on view at 93 Dinh Tien Hoang in Hanoi, offers viewers a photographic experience that is both grounded in reality and tinged with the surreal. Large-format works combining shapes, color fields, and traces of human presence create a space that is visually striking and contemplative.

Bert Danckaert, trained at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts and the National Higher Institute for Fine Arts in Antwerp, has worked professionally since the mid-1990s and exhibited widely in Belgium and abroad. His exhibition “The State of Things” is part of the Photo Hanoi ’25 International Photography Biennale. (Photo: courtesy of the artist)

A room filled with Bert Danckaert’s photographs looks almost like a painting exhibition. His large-format works, which at first glance resemble simple blocks or bands of color, are neatly arranged within photography’s familiar rectangular frame.

A large-format photograph by Bert Danckaert, where geometric forms and color fields blend with traces of human activity.

Random traces of everyday life bring the photograph to life.

The photographs convey an abstract feel through geometric composition and subtle use of light.

Random details in the works reveal traces of human presence in an otherwise abstract world.

Viewers may find it challenging to interpret the intentions of a perceptive, contemplative photographer who captures slices of a world that is both real and surreal; yet the works themselves seem to invite us into that very tension, mirroring the artist’s own embrace of it.

Bert Danckaert captures the surrounding world with a perspective that is both objective and contemplative.

Upon closer observation, viewers encounter random traces of human activity rendered with a level of detail unique to photography. While rooted in the real world, these images possess a dominant formal aesthetic, blurring the informational purpose that photography typically serves.

The works are meant not only to be seen but also to convey the artist’s inner state.

The ambiguity Danckaert creates is a hallmark of his photographic practice and reflects the intrinsic nature of photography. His works are visually striking while radiating a subtle tension, capturing not only the external world but also mirroring the artist’s inner journey.

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