Drawing from seemingly endlessly proliferating word sequences—which arise from a single word through a simple rule and through association—Veva Leye creates montages that present the same words in completely different ways. Uncannily coagulating, these word images expand and contract in an accordion-like movement. A similar rhythm characterizes Jelle Martens’ (photo)graphic registrations that combine fragments, reproductions and trivial observations into layered prints and drawings. Every print layer, every drawing operates as a temporary frame bringing together images that only temporarily solidify, overlap, and fall apart again. Image and language tumble along, stumble upon. Letters form words form images reading looking.

‘Fabricate Nature’ is an exploration of the way in which we, as human beings, relate to a natural world that is becoming increasingly distorted, yet on which we have simultaneously come to depend to a great extent. This alienation is visible everywhere. The forests we walk through are often man-made and consist of monocultures that take their toll on flora and fauna. The food on shop shelves contains ingredients whose names we can barely read or understand. The landscape around us, too, is increasingly defined by a mechanical, man-made environment. It is precisely this alienation that Matts Nauwelaers seeks to portray in his exhibition. ‘Fabricate Nature’ explores the boundary between the natural and the man-made, and asks how we relate today to a natural world that is increasingly being shaped, adapted and replaced by our own hands.