Sophie Whettnall / Ghost Trees
Feel the heartbeat of history
Performance / Ghost Trees, 2024, organic pigments on the lawn in front of the castle
With Ghost Trees, Sophie Whettnall flirts with the boundaries between the visible and the invisible, between the present and the past and between dream and reality. Using biodegradable pigments, she paints shadows of fictional trees on the lawn in front of Gaasbeek Castle. Time seems to stand still and the displaced shadows invite you to slow down and reflect.
Ghost Trees forms part of the exhibition ‘Rebel Echoes – 800 years of stories, 100 years of museum’. Playing with the light and surrounded by the trees of the park, her intervention completely merges into the landscape, literally even: sunlight, falling rain and the growing grass gradually blur the paintings, causing them to resemble echoes from an imaginary past.
Inside the castle, visitors can experience the video Midnight Sun by Sophie Whettnall, in which she literally brings the landscape indoors. Dedoubling and mirroring themselves, the images intertwine with the patterns in the murals in Carletto's room. Along with the soundtrack, the images also reference the bats that found a home in the attics and cellars of the castle.
With thanks to the Agency for Nature and Forests
Practical details
» The performance took place on 5 and 6 July.
» The work has faded away under the influence of the natural elements but you can enjoy the performance with the video below.
Sophie Whettnall
Sophie Whettnall (b. 1973 in Brussels) is a Belgian multidisciplinary artist who explores the relationship between the body and the environment through performance, installations and film. Heavily influenced by landscape painting, she is guided by her senses and her fascination with the elusive, almost disorienting effect of light. Whettnall's works are quiet exercises in contemplation that simultaneously engage the viewer. She challenges the idea that seeing equals understanding.
Since the late '90s, her work has been exhibited internationally, including solo exhibitions at Le Pavillon de Vendôme in Aix-en-Provence (2022), Galerie Michel Rein in Brussels (2022), Bozar in Brussels (2021), Fondazione Palazzo Magnani in Reggio Emilia (2021), Galerie Michel Rein in Paris (2021) and at DE CENTRALE for contemporary art in Brussels (2019). She has also participated in numerous group exhibitions in Belgium and abroad, notably at STUK in Leuven (2024), Gallerie degli Uffizi in Florence (2024), Villa Empain (Boghossian Foundation) in Brussels (2023) and the 52nd Venice Biennale (2007).
' When you displace something,
it becomes suddenly visible. '
- Sophie Whettnall
Performance / Ghost Trees, 2024, organic pigments on the lawn in front of the castle
With Ghost Trees, Sophie Whettnall flirts with the boundaries between the visible and the invisible, between the present and the past and between dream and reality. Using biodegradable pigments, she paints shadows of fictional trees on the lawn in front of Gaasbeek Castle. Time seems to stand still and the displaced shadows invite you to slow down and reflect.
Ghost Trees forms part of the exhibition ‘Rebel Echoes – 800 years of stories, 100 years of museum’. Playing with the light and surrounded by the trees of the park, her intervention completely merges into the landscape, literally even: sunlight, falling rain and the growing grass gradually blur the paintings, causing them to resemble echoes from an imaginary past.
The performance took place on 5 and 6 July 2024. The work has faded away under the influence of the natural elements but you can enjoy the performance with the video below.
Inside the castle, visitors can experience the video Midnight Sun by Sophie Whettnall, in which she literally brings the landscape indoors. Dedoubling and mirroring themselves, the images intertwine with the patterns in the murals in Carletto's room. Along with the soundtrack, the images also reference the bats that found a home in the attics and cellars of the castle.
With thanks to the Agency for Nature and Forests
Sophie Whettnall
Sophie Whettnall (b. 1973 in Brussels) is a Belgian multidisciplinary artist who explores the relationship between the body and the environment through performance, installations and film. Heavily influenced by landscape painting, she is guided by her senses and her fascination with the elusive, almost disorienting effect of light. Whettnall's works are quiet exercises in contemplation that simultaneously engage the viewer. She challenges the idea that seeing equals understanding.
Since the late '90s, her work has been exhibited internationally, including solo exhibitions at Le Pavillon de Vendôme in Aix-en-Provence (2022), Galerie Michel Rein in Brussels (2022), Bozar in Brussels (2021), Fondazione Palazzo Magnani in Reggio Emilia (2021), Galerie Michel Rein in Paris (2021) and at DE CENTRALE for contemporary art in Brussels (2019). She has also participated in numerous group exhibitions in Belgium and abroad, notably at STUK in Leuven (2024), Gallerie degli Uffizi in Florence (2024), Villa Empain (Boghossian Foundation) in Brussels (2023) and the 52nd Venice Biennale (2007).
' When you displace something,
it becomes suddenly visible. '
- Sophie Whettnall