Hans Op de Beeck

Born 1969 in Turnhout, Belgium

Lives and works in Brussels and Gooik, Belgium

In his career of more than twenty years, Belgian artist Hans Op de Beeck has developed into an artistic all-rounder. Known mainly for his large, immersive installations, his sculptures, drawings, paintings and his art films, he also developed as a playwright, theatre and opera director, scenographer, and costume designer. His work is a reflection on our complex society and the universal questions of meaning and mortality that resonate within it. Op de Beeck shows the viewer non-existent, but identifiable places, moments and characters that appear to have been taken from contemporary everyday life that emphasize the tragicomic absurdity of our postmodern existence. Above all, Hans Op de Beeck is keen to stimulate the viewers’ senses and invite them to really experience the image. He seeks to create a form of visual fiction that delivers a moment of wonder and silence.  

In 1996, he graduated with a Masters Degree in Visual Arts at the Higher Institute Sint-Lukas, Brussels. Later, he became a participant at the Higher Institute for Fine Arts-Flanders, Antwerp and a participant at the Rijksakademie, Amsterdam. From 2002 to 2003 he participated in the MoMA-P.S.1 Studio Program in New York. He received various prices, namely the Uriôt Prize awarded by the Rijksakademie, Amsterdam; the Prix Jeune Peinture Belge 2001; the Prize Eugène Baie 2003-2005; the Catholic University of Leuven Culture Prize 2009-2010 and the Pino Pascali Award – 20th Edition in 2017. 

His work has been shown in numerous international exhibitions, including La Biennale de Lyon: Manifesto of Fragility, Lyon, France (2022), Hans Op de Beeck: The Quiet Parade, Amos Rex, Helsinki, Finland (2022), State hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia, Tate Modern, London, UK (2021), Bruges Triennale 2021(group), Museum M, Leuven, Belgium (group), MOCAK, Krakow, Poland (group) (2020), Kunsthalle Krems, Austria (2019), KMSK Brussels, Belgium (2019), Sheepvaartmuseum Amsterdam, Netherlands (2018), Museum Morsbroich, Leverkusen, Germany (2017), Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, Germany (2017), Folkwangmuseum, Essen, Germany, 56thVenice Biennale (group) (2015) and many others. Since 2006, Hans Op de Beeck has had many solo exhibitions at Galerie Krinzinger, most recently 2021, where he showed works on paper.