Guillaume Bijl

Critical text

Born into a working-class family, Guillaume Bijl (b. 1946, Antwerp) was able to devote himself entirely to art only from the late 1970s, after working in a bank and in a bookstore, and after attending the Royal Institute for Theatre, Cinema and Sound in Brussels, though only for a year. He created his first environmental installation in 1979, when he transformed the Ruimte Z gallery in Antwerp into a driving school, accompanying the operation with a manifesto that called for art centres to be turned into ‘socially useful institutions’. From the 1980s onwards, this initial experiment was followed by the transformation of many other premises, which were conceived as perfect imitations of reality. His works are always poised on the dividing line between truth and fiction, challenging the concept of normality and confounding the viewer’s critical judgment, particularly as regards the dazzling enchantment of everyday banality. The artist has divided his works into four sections: ‘Transformation-Installations’ (A reality in the non-reality), ‘Situation-Installations’ (A non-reality in the reality), ‘Compositions’ (Present-day archaeological still lives) and ‘Sorry’s’ (More absurd works).

Text by Lorenzo Giusti