River Project (ongoing)
This project us about the rivers and the waterways that connect us in a historical dialogue with existing documents, maps, travel reports, works of art and the reporting of climate change, of the water that is both necessary and threatening. My studios in Ostend and in Waulsort on the Meuse are the ultimate observation posts for this. It is a project in which (historical) research, artistic methods, ecology and crossovers come together.
This project us about the rivers and the waterways that connect us in a historical dialogue with existing documents, maps, travel reports, works of art and the reporting of climate change, of the water that is both necessary and threatening. My studios in Ostend and in Waulsort on the Meuse are the ultimate observation posts for this. It is a project in which (historical) research, artistic methods, ecology and crossovers come together.
Post PhD research (ongoing)
The Depth of Paintings. The stratification of paintings as a historical source
The Depth of Paintings. The stratification of paintings as a historical source
PhD research (2014-2019)
‘The rosy gloom of battle overhead’ An artistic research into the atmospheric layers of history
This research in the arts takes place on battlefields between 2014 and 2019, from Waterloo, via Scapa Flow, to the inaccessible battlefields such as Palmyra and Baghdad in the Middle East. It is above all a profound reflection on my methods: walking to draw and drawing to be able to walk again, re-enactment and the use of the imagination. It is my conviction that this is how knowledge is acquired and collected in the drawn and painted images. I call this the atmospheric layers of history, i.e. the traces of wear and tear, the traces of pain and the traces of colour. This addition to the historical knowledge and method is explained in this dissertation on the basis of my experiences and works of art. The title 'The rosy gloom of battle overhead' is a line from the poem The Rear-Guard (Hindenburg Line April 1917) by the British war poet Siegfried Sassoon and very well summarises the atmospheric stratification of history. I hope to be able to include the reader in my artistic and methodological wanderings, but also to be able to drag them into unexpected historical sensations.
‘The rosy gloom of battle overhead’ An artistic research into the atmospheric layers of history
This research in the arts takes place on battlefields between 2014 and 2019, from Waterloo, via Scapa Flow, to the inaccessible battlefields such as Palmyra and Baghdad in the Middle East. It is above all a profound reflection on my methods: walking to draw and drawing to be able to walk again, re-enactment and the use of the imagination. It is my conviction that this is how knowledge is acquired and collected in the drawn and painted images. I call this the atmospheric layers of history, i.e. the traces of wear and tear, the traces of pain and the traces of colour. This addition to the historical knowledge and method is explained in this dissertation on the basis of my experiences and works of art. The title 'The rosy gloom of battle overhead' is a line from the poem The Rear-Guard (Hindenburg Line April 1917) by the British war poet Siegfried Sassoon and very well summarises the atmospheric stratification of history. I hope to be able to include the reader in my artistic and methodological wanderings, but also to be able to drag them into unexpected historical sensations.
The historical sensation. About a helmet with two bullet holes, a skull with a dent and dead rabbits (2016)
As a visual artist my research centres on the image of battlefields. A first stage of my PhD research into the Battle of Waterloo exhibited in the Royal Library in Brussels (2015). Current research focuses on Scapa Flow, the main base of the Royal Navy during the World Wars, and suggests the battlefield as seascape and well as landscape.
My research is based on my practice as an artist. I walk, read, draw and paint to understand complex historical events through a diverse range of entry points and research tactics.
Recently encountered, the helmet of the Scottish author Eric Linklater, complete with two bullet holes, kept in a showcase in the Orkney Museum in Kirkwall, is an intriguing illustration of the historical sensation (a concept of the Dutch historian Johan Huizinga, 1926) and an example of this concept in my methodology.
Many Ways to Scapa Flow (2016)
As a visual artist, Koen Broucke is researching battlefields. A first stage of his PhD research into the battle of Waterloo was on display this summer in the Royal Library in Brussels. The title of the research into Scapa Flow (main base of the Royal Navy during the world wars) refers to “Mein weg nach Scapa Flow”, the autobiography of German U-boat commander Gunther Prien. He manipulates chronology, putting Scapa Flow at the end of story as a religious mission, making of his account powerful Nazi propaganda. Broucke's reconstruction of the conflicts in Scapa Flow is multiform, intuitive and based on my practice as painter. He studies sideways, coincidences and significant details. He is drawing and painting to understand complex historical events.
As a visual artist, Koen Broucke is researching battlefields. A first stage of his PhD research into the battle of Waterloo was on display this summer in the Royal Library in Brussels. The title of the research into Scapa Flow (main base of the Royal Navy during the world wars) refers to “Mein weg nach Scapa Flow”, the autobiography of German U-boat commander Gunther Prien. He manipulates chronology, putting Scapa Flow at the end of story as a religious mission, making of his account powerful Nazi propaganda. Broucke's reconstruction of the conflicts in Scapa Flow is multiform, intuitive and based on my practice as painter. He studies sideways, coincidences and significant details. He is drawing and painting to understand complex historical events.
The unbearable Joy of Pictures (2014-2019)
Towards an intuitive, drawing method for researching historical images. Doctoral research, 2014-2019
http://associatie.kuleuven.be/fak/nl/node/619
Towards an intuitive, drawing method for researching historical images. Doctoral research, 2014-2019
http://associatie.kuleuven.be/fak/nl/node/619
Vincent Van Gogh (2011-2014)
Reconstruction of the lost nude drawings coming from the ‘Breda boxes’.
Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890) was a Dutch post-Impressionist painter whose work, notable for its rough beauty, emotional honesty and bold colour, had a far-reaching influence on 20th-century art. After years of painful anxiety and frequent bouts of mental illness, he died aged 37 from a gunshot wound, generally accepted to be self-inflicted (although no gun was ever found).
Reconstruction of the lost nude drawings coming from the ‘Breda boxes’.
Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890) was a Dutch post-Impressionist painter whose work, notable for its rough beauty, emotional honesty and bold colour, had a far-reaching influence on 20th-century art. After years of painful anxiety and frequent bouts of mental illness, he died aged 37 from a gunshot wound, generally accepted to be self-inflicted (although no gun was ever found).
Jan Cockx (2009-2014)
Reconstruction of the lost work during WW II and after his brutal death, investigation into a mysterious cold case.
Jan Cockx (1891–1976) was a Belgian painter perhaps best known for landscapes, still life and harbor scenes. His artistic career included experimentation with ceramics, graphics and illustrations for Ça ira, an art magazine group.
Reconstruction of the lost work during WW II and after his brutal death, investigation into a mysterious cold case.
Jan Cockx (1891–1976) was a Belgian painter perhaps best known for landscapes, still life and harbor scenes. His artistic career included experimentation with ceramics, graphics and illustrations for Ça ira, an art magazine group.
Our Travelling Circus Life (2004-2019)
Research into the visual language of Franz Liszt (1811-1886).
Liszt gained renown in Europe during the early nineteenth century for his virtuosic skill as a pianist. He was said by his contemporaries to have been the most technically advanced pianist of his age, and in the 1840s he was considered by some to be perhaps the greatest pianist of all time.
Research into the visual language of Franz Liszt (1811-1886).
Liszt gained renown in Europe during the early nineteenth century for his virtuosic skill as a pianist. He was said by his contemporaries to have been the most technically advanced pianist of his age, and in the 1840s he was considered by some to be perhaps the greatest pianist of all time.
