S.M.A.K.

On the occasion of the publication of the book “Trinity”, Carl De Keyzer (°1958 Kortrijk, BE) will exhibit some eighty photographs in the S.M.A.K. from June 2009 on. It is a milestone in the work of Magnum photographer Carl De Keyzer, a triptych on the theme of the omnipresence of power and violence.

The title itself refers not only to the traditional image of the Supreme Power in classical painting, but also, for example, to the code name of the project with which Oppenheimer lead a team of atomic physicists to the production of the first atom bomb. Based on three probing themes, he grabs contemporary power, its senseless violence and worldwide devastation by the hair with oppressive images: Tableaux d’ Histoire, Tableaux de Guerre and Tableaux Politiques. The first tableaux cast a surprising light on the theatrical, that has characterized power since time immemorial and without which it could not exist.

The second perspective shows us violence as a timeless and placeless phenomenon. War appears in an aesthetic of the sublime, although subdued and painful, as glorification, heroism and justification are absent. The third part takes us behind the scenes of political power, which should, when all is said and done, actually be the power of the people: the façade, the lobbying, the back rooms, the haggling.