EXTENSIONS

In terms of content, the animated film ‘Extensions’ deals with cultural and subcultural rituals, science and technology as extensions of the human body, and as the physical manifestation of an unfailing belief in progress, which is both redemptive and ethically problematic.
The artist defines the extension of the body in very broad terms.

Body extensions may involve objects such as computers, weapons, scanners, prosthetic devices, or large constructions such as shopping malls or waiting rooms - anything that seems to make Western life easier, serving to channel and automate life and present it in terms of data, grids, and patterns.
‘Extensions’ takes the spectator on a quiet, nocturnal travel along abandoned buildings, interiors, objects and anonymous characters that appear from and disappear into the dark.

The animated film, which is made using black-and-white watercolours based on photographs taken from the Internet and images from documentaries and educational videos, shows our technology-driven and globalised environment as a dark dream, a dark and intangible maze in which the individual tries to maintain himself by means of his rituals and habits.

Extensions, Hans Op de Beeck, 2009. Courtesy Galleria Continua, San Gimignano – Beijing – Le Moulin; Galerie Krinzinger, Vienna; Xavier Hufkens, Brussels; Marianne Boesky Gallery, New York; Galerie Ron Mandos, Rotterdam – AmsterdamExtensions, Hans Op de Beeck, 2009. Courtesy Galleria Continua, San Gimignano – Beijing – Le Moulin; Galerie Krinzinger, Vienna; Xavier Hufkens, Brussels; Marianne Boesky Gallery, New York; Galerie Ron Mandos, Rotterdam – AmsterdamExtensions, Hans Op de Beeck, 2009. Courtesy Galleria Continua, San Gimignano – Beijing – Le Moulin; Galerie Krinzinger, Vienna; Xavier Hufkens, Brussels; Marianne Boesky Gallery, New York; Galerie Ron Mandos, Rotterdam – AmsterdamExtensions, Hans Op de Beeck, 2009. Courtesy Galleria Continua, San Gimignano – Beijing – Le Moulin; Galerie Krinzinger, Vienna; Xavier Hufkens, Brussels; Marianne Boesky Gallery, New York; Galerie Ron Mandos, Rotterdam – Amsterdam