Els Opsomer: I see, I see what you don't see - About the visible invisible in times of 'global' terror'.

Els Opsomer, PhD in the Arts

In times of terrorist threat, the question of how to provide artistic resistance becomes urgent and relevant. - I see, I see what you don't see - About the visible invisible in times of 'global' terror is a question about how visual language can bring about a countering in the tense visual culture that engulfs us.

My doctoral research aims to introduce and offer a visual counter-terror through the method of the "realism of dialogue". From Boccaccio's Decamerone I am looking for a poetic response that can be shared and workable within our complex (art) world and society.

Through different scriptures, in image as counter-image, in film as counter-cinema, in essays and during lecture-performances, I want to enter into a dialogue with the viewer (my audience), other artists and art education to explore the possibilities of visual resistance.

Both in the artistic question (what is a possible answer to the current image invasion?), working method (dissection of one's own image archive and what surrounds me), and in the final results (film(s) in the form of a visual framework narrative, essays and lecture/performances), there is the immense urge to give a face to the survival reality of human integrity in an overwhelming world and to allow it to exist.

Supervisors:

• Prof. dr. Hilde Van Gelder (Supervisor, KU Leuven)
• Dr. Liesbeth Decan (Co-supervisor, LUCA)
• Dr. Mira Sanders (Co-supervisor,LUCA)

Research Unit: Intermedia

Duration 2018-2022

Contact: els.opsomer@luca-arts.be