Carla Arocha and Stéphane Schraenen

Written and edited by Barbara Vanderlinden.With essays by Mónica Amor, Marc Donnadieu, Philippe Pirotte.Interviews by Helen Molesworth, Hans Ulrich Obrist.Book design by Irma Boom.In Belgium, a country with a deep-rooted gusto for conceptual experimentation, Carla Arocha and Stéphane Schraenen embrace conceptual rigor while transforming space into a dynamic visual laboratory. Arocha arrived in Belgium from Caracas via Chicago before settling in Antwerp, Schraenen's hometown. Having developed distinct solo practices prior to their partnership, they have been working together in Antwerp for more than twenty years, becoming true collaborators who explore how we perceive and live “the aesthetic” while raising new questions about art and visual culture. Their interactive installations use geometric abstraction and optical effects to merge art and design. -Chris Dercon, Managing Director, Fondation Cartier, Paris For more than two decades, Carla Arocha and Stéphane Schraenen have been pursuing an artistic inquiry grounded in postminimalist critique and defined by indeterminacy. Their work unfolds between sculpture, architecture, and installation, where light, material, and perception interlace in ever-shifting relations. At once rigorous and poetic, their practice dwells on the shimmering threshold between independence and collaboration. Their preoccupation with coexisting in difference extends to the duo's exquisite explorations of perception's variegated qualities: as a phenomenon rooted in physiology and optics; as it arises from the interactions between materials, light, the eye, and the environment; and as codified in representational conventions like perspective-all of which the artists expertly unmoor. -Madeleine Grynsztejn, Pritzker Director, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago The art of Carla Arocha and Stéphane Schraenen is an explosion of energy, strong graphics, blinding mirrors, dazzling lights, and fabulous reflections. With a playful nod to fashion and modeling, their work invites us to see, move, and experience space anew. -Walter Van Beirendonck, Fashion Designer, Antwerp