Brecht Heytens l Functions

With his series “Functions”, Heytens above all else provokes contrasts within his works. He juxtaposes the materi­al­ity of a massive wooden frame with the immate­r­ial medium of light in the form of neon tubes. The stabil­ity that is suggested by the linear and geomet­ric shapes and the structure of the works is mislead­ing: the wooden frame is in fact secured only at the end by a thin cable which keeps the construc­tion in balance through tension. Heytens demonstrates playful­ness here, behind which, though, is hidden ingenious structural engineer­ing and interac­tion with the space. The connec­tion with the space is therefore an important detail for the existence and activa­tion of Heytens’ works.

Within the framework of ewoLAB, two works by Heytens were made accessible to the public within the exhibition “Functions” from February 9 to March 9, 2017 in the studio building and in the second floor of the Museion Bolzano, with another work in the foyer of ewo in Kurtatsch.

At the same time, in a one month artist residency in the former ewo metalworks in the Sarntal, Heytens was working on another installation called "Counterparts Projecting".

The work, “Counter­parts Project­ing” by Brecht Heytens, combines the artist’s aesthet­ics and way of working with ewo’s technol­ogy and know-how. As with most of his works, for this instal­la­tion Heytens used materi­als such as metal and wood – the decision for this has both functional and aesthetic reasons.

After an introduc­tion to lighting technol­ogy by ewo, Heytens decided to also include it in his work. Heytens’ choice fell upon a cold white (6000 K) right/left lens which features partic­u­larly asymmet­ric and beacon-like shining charac­ter­is­tics. In his search for another material that reflects light or lets it shine through as a result of its transparency, Heytens hit upon a perforated metal plate with a square grid pattern that offered him both possibil­i­ties.

Heytens plays with light and shadows – the lenses that are embedded in the wooden frame intention­ally shine through the grid plate, with several projec­tion surfaces result­ing around the artwork. The shadows that are thrown by the grid pattern are mildly deformed depend­ing upon the shining of the light, bringing lightness and dynamics into the work that otherwise appears construc­tive and static.

In addition to the interplay of material and form, Heytens searches in his works for a physical area of conflict. He achieves this, for example, by challeng­ing physical laws such as gravity. “Counter­parts Project­ing” thus consists of two identi­cal counter­parts in the form of two frames. They are constructed at the central intersec­tion in such a way that they can only be pushed through each other at a certain angle, thus mutually support­ing each other and prevent­ing each other from falling. The two frame construc­tions “work” contin­u­ously on carrying each other and consequently themselves – the artwork is thus constantly under tension.

Brecht Heytens was born in 1989 in Leuven, Belgium.After graduat­ing in sculpture from the KASK (Koninklijk Conser­va­to­rium) in Ghent, he contin­ued his studies at the Sint Lukas Akademie in Brussels, from which he earned his Master of Fine Arts in 2016. Heytens lives and works in Brussels.

In his works, he explores formal and dimensional levels as well as the boundaries and functions of materials. He experiments with the possibilities of a material by removing it from its necessity, in that way getting closer to it in an objective way and, in the end, placing it in a new context. The artist creates his large format installations above all else from rough, stark materials such as metal, wood, and plaster.