presented by Ballon Rouge Collective, Burssels

Philip Janssens’ ‘he who talks about the future is a funny guy’ is an exhibition about sensorial tom-foolery, false promises, and indomitable bad faith.
Philip’s playful use of materials is intended to make us question the very thing in front of us. The space smells of a brand new car, tennis balls litter the floor and woven fabric works made of retro-reflective fabric make the walls sometimes gray and dull and sometimes luminescent – depending on your point of view and the way the light hits them. The works have no fixed form; the tennis balls roll around with moving bodies and the woven works change with every step made, too. With the fabrics on the wall are prints of a manipulated image of a Roman bust of Caligula. His rule of the Roman Empire is rife with hear-say, gossip, and mythologising. Very little information remains about his short rule; what does remain are biased or fictionalized accounts either applauding or assailing him. Like Philip’s manipulated image of his face, Caligula’s real story is erased within the flurry of posthumous legend and fiction.
‘He who talks about the future is a funny guy’ is a mood and a full sensory experience. It’s about inconsequentiality, about the unknown, and about intentionally deceitful and fluid forms.
Philip Janssens (b. 1980, Lille) studied some Philosophy before moving to In-Situ (Site-Specific Installation) at Antwerp’s Academy of Fine Arts. He had a solo exhibition with Ballon Rouge Collective in April 2018 curated by Evelyn Simons, and recent group exhibitions include Art’s Birthday 2018 (M HKA, Antwerp), DARK MATTER GAMES (Sale Docks/Workspacebrussels, Venice), Workspace Brussels. Working Title Situation #4 (Quincallerie Van Der Eycken and Beursschouwburg, Brussels) and Spatial Sublation (WIELS Project Room, Brussels). He also had solo projects such as The JOY corner (Szenne, Brussels), Summer Studio (Moonens Foundation, Brussels) and at Platform 102 (Brussels). He was artist-in-residence at AIR Antwerpen, Szenne, Les Brigitinnes, Moonens Foundation and WIELS.