BY LAURA LEE BRAL
© Jan Kempenaers, Antwerpen, 1996
Born in 1968, Antwerp-based photographer Jan Kempenaers is best known for producing photographic series which focus on urban and natural landscapes. His Spomenik (2006 - 2009) series — images of deserted war monuments that dotter across the landscape of former Yugoslavia — inspired a PhD in the visual arts that Kempenaers completed in 2012. He is currently working on a new project centered abstract photography.
Tell us about your approach to photography. How it all started?
Jan Kempenaers (JK): After I completed secondary education, I chose to study film and photography at The Royal Academy in Ghent. In those days (mid-eighties), film and photography were together one department but film courses didn’t start until the third year. That’s why I never really explored film; instead I wanted to further deepen my knowledge of photography. At the time there was a special interest in decisive moment photography, as pioneered by Henri Cartier-Bresson. I found this to be very frustrating because I always felt I missed that moment. My search for a different kind of photography resulted in capturing landscapes.
© Jan Kempenaers, Sarajevo, 1999-2000
Your work often depicts hybrid landscapes, exploring the intersection between nature and city. Where does this fascination come from?
JK: I always tried to photograph the scenery from high vantage points, wherein the different elements and functions within the landscape become intertwined. I developed an interest in the manner in which to approach this intersection and began to take pictures of landscapes, mainly in Wallonia and harbor areas because there you can easily see how the industrial merges with agriculture and people living in their homes. In my later work, I tried to further explore those functions.
In what way did your research on the picturesque contribute to your work as an artist and how did your work evolve over time?
JK: This was one of the questions I answered during my doctoral defense. I completed the theoretical part of my PhD in the final year and I worked on it for the entire year. Hence, I don’t believe there was much influence, apart maybe from things I’d already read before. While I did discover some formal aspects of the picturesque in my own photos, I never explicitly started a project with criteria of the picturesque in mind. It was more the other way around.
© Jan Kempenaers, Paris, 1997
I used to seize panoramic landscapes from high viewpoints though I’m not interested in this anymore. In recent years, I’ve been focusing on freestanding elements that are not attached to landscapes, such as monuments or architectural buildings. While capturing broad panoramic views, I became aware of a double viewing distance. On the one hand, the distance creates a sense of overall composition wherein details merely function to balance the scenery. Yet, at the same time, those details appear closer in the pictures than in reality because everything in it is magnified. I thought those magnified details were quite interesting and I began to photograph them as separate elements. Furthermore, through the context of my research for my PhD, I was stimulated to take pictures of modern ruins and approach them as a subject an sich, as a sort of sculpture, a literal sculpture in the case of monuments. Here I didn’t search for higher positions anymore, but instead decided on an eye level viewpoint. Thus the idea partly emerged from looking at my own work but it also connected to my research on the picturesque because ruins are important within the picturesque tradition.
© Jan Kempenaers, U.Z. #1, 2010
When you start a project, do you already have an idea of where you’re going, or do you let yourself be guided by experimentation, by the process itself?
JK: In the past, when I still photographed landscapes, I liked to travel and look around a lot. Taking in what comes your way. Then I thought about why it would be interesting to get an overview of the landscape. With a project like Spomenik (2006 - 2009) it is of course different because I had to determine in advance where the monuments were located and gather information about the monuments before I photographed them. So in that way I knew precisely where I was going.
© Jan Kempenaers, Spomenik #4 (Tjentište), 2007
Dirk De Meyer described your work as « exploration of the continuing relevance of the picturesque in the contemporary visualization of our environment» are your thoughts on photography in the era of digital and social networking?
JK: My PhD in the arts was about linking other works to certain criteria of the picturesque. First I selected a number of crucial photographers throughout history who were concerned with nature and landscape. On the basis of books by pioneer William Gilpin, I then tried to determine which of those criteria were typically conveyed in images like paintings. Afterwards I applied this approach to my own work and further described it.
In my personal opinion, photography is an autonomous practice. Nowadays a lot of photos are taken and spread through the internet but that is not what I want to do. I always try to limit the amount of photographs because I rather capture a few iconic images than just making lots of photos. To me this notion is important.
© Jan Kempenaers, Rock #1, 2010
Do you have any preferences in terms of cameras and format?
JK: That’s a very technical question. Actually, I use all kind of equipment, including 4 x 5 inch and digital cameras. I don’t think it’s important to be technical proficient. It depends on the image you make with it. Which type of camera doesn’t really matter.
Is there any contemporary artist or photographer, even if young and emerging, who influenced you in some way?
JK: No, I can’t think of any contemporary photographer but the New Topographics were initially important, mainly during the start of my studies.
What are the projects that you are working on now and do you have any plans for the future?
JK: At this moment I’m working on abstract photography that is embedded in an entire research project. I am still exploring different paths to come to an abstraction of a photograph. Originally, I examined screen prints and there were a few art integration projects wherein the abstraction of an image reoccurs via frames. Now I’m occupied with combinations of images, also resulting in an abstraction of it. Additionally, a new book with Roma Publications has been planned.
© Site specific project, in collaboration with Kasper Andreasen, Wervik, 2013
Can you name three books of photography that you would recommend?
JK: 1) The new edition of ‘New Topographics’ (2010) published by Steidl
2) ‘Concorde’ (2008) by Wolfgang Tillmans,
3) ‘Roads’ (2001) by Werner Mantz, published by Stichting Werner Mantz