Frames

in situ

In his famous essay Parergon, the French philosopher Jacques Derrida asks the reader the following question: “Suppose a burglar were to steal only the frames of the artworks in your home, and not the artworks themselves. What would change in your dealings with art?”

In his new production Frames (2025), Alexander Vantournhout turns this thought-experiment inside out: what if the burglar takes away the painting but not the frame? What does this frame still mean and do? What is its meaning and which potential does it hold? Is it a ‘parergon’ – a secondary, ancillary element – or just a structural element of the artwork?

Frames explores the theatre element that is commonly taken for granted, the element that makes theatre possible in the first place: the frame shaping the spectator’s gaze. The performance builds upon theatrical research explored in previous works like Foreshadow (2023), which brought the theatre’s back wall closer to the audience, and Through the Grapevine (2020), which challenged the proscenium theatre with a vantage point trapezium or trompe l’oeil floor.

Like SCREWS (2019), this new production invites the audience, outside the theatre walls, on a journey along 3 to 4 pavilions, in this case from one ‘frame’ to the next. These intentional viewing portals are strategically positioned in the public space, from a circular to a frontal and bifrontal audience set-up.

Alexander Vantournhout’s work has always been thoroughly cross-disciplinary, bridging the realms of dance, circus, and theater. Frames represents an expansion and an explicit approach to the world of visual arts, drawing inspiration from visual arts framing. Additionally, the scenography of the frames and environment plays a crucial role, rendering the work almost architectural in nature.