After World War II, a new generation of Belgian artists explored light, movement, and perception, breaking away from traditional painting. Walter Leblanc, Paul Van Hoeydonck, and Jef Verheyenaligned with the Zero movement, investigating how light interacts with matter. Leblanc used torsions to create optical effects, while Van Hoeydonck’s “Planetscapes” and “Lightworks” played with perception and space.
In optical art, Jo Delahaut and Guy Vandenbranden had close ties with Victor Vasarely, with whom they frequently exhibited. Their geometric, rhythmic compositions, like those of Jan Van Den Abbeel and Hugo De Clercq, engage the eye in continuous motion.
Other artists, such as Pol Bury, Henri Gabriel and Fred Eerdekens, took a kinetic and conceptual approach. Bury’s slow-moving sculptures manipulated time, Gabriel’s light machines transformed through shifting angles, Eerdekens worked with shadow as a medium.
Wout Vercammen investigated light vibrations, Marcel-Henri Verdren captured prism effects, and Mark Verstockt created light sculptures that redefined space.
Inspired by the 1996 “Light and Movement” (ICC) exhibition, this show places these artists in an international context through archival materials and references to Jean Tinguely, Vasarely, Le Parc, Piene, Mack, and Uecker, highlighting their role in post-war avant-garde movements.