Guillaume Bijl
©image: M HKA
° 1946
Born in Antwerp (BE), lives in Antwerp (BE).
Antwerp visual artist Guillaume Bijl (°1946) attends a theatre course and initially works as a set designer and painter. From the mid-seventies, he starts his work on conceptual staging to transform the dramatic tragedy of everyday life into museum installations.
Using close reproductions of sales booths for mattresses, lampshades or toilet bowls, Guillaume Bijl reconstructs the clichéd seductiveness of the shop window as a museum installation. Bijl repeats this process using the uninspiring emptiness of a driving school, the amusing gaudiness of a dog salon and the painful gimmickry of television studios where happiness made of plastic and cardboard is won. He draws inspiration from the day-to-day reality of his surroundings in an effort to explore the dividing wall between the reality of the social and its counterpart in the arts. At the same time he challenges the viewer's sense of critical judgement, which is all too easily led astray by the dazzling banality of commercial consumer society. Window dressing and keeping up appearances have pushed reality so far over the edge that whether or not a thing is true is a question that has ceased to be asked.
In addition to these conceptual installations, Bijl also photographically reconstructs reality, with his photo presentation 265 Belangrijke en minder Belangrijke foto’s uit de 2e helft van de 20ste eeuw [265 Important and less important photos from the second half of the 20th century], based on photographs found in cheap development laboratories, serving as a good example. The artists opts to converse with reality by reconstructing a sham reality as art.
Media
>"I remain essentially an anarchist and you have to be a bit of an anarchist to understand my work... and have a sense of humour. I am one hundred percent committed." - Guillaume Bijl
>'Guillaume Bijl in 700 words', 2012
>Guillaume Bijl, Project - notities [Project Notes], 1969-1975.Drawing, ink, paper.
>Guillaume Bijl, Behandelingen, 1975-1979.Collage, ink, paper, 6 x (80 x 60 cm).
>Guillaume Bijl, Project Pleasures, 1977.Collage, ink, paper, 6 x (80 x 60 cm).
>Guillaume Bijl, Projecten [Projects], 1977.Drawing, ink, paper, 13 x (30 x 40 cm).
>Guillaume Bijl, 10 kleurenfoto’s van installaties, 1979-1985.Photography, photographs, 31 x 49 cm.
>Guillaume Bijl, Autorijschool Z [Car - driving school Z], 1979-1989.Installation, mixed media, 260 x 535 x 1024 cm.
>Guillaume Bijl, CHAUSSURES Icécé, 1980.Performance.
>Guillaume Bijl, CHAUSSURES Icécé, 1980.Mixed Media, ink, paper, paint, wood, variable dimensions.
>Guillaume Bijl, 235 Belangrijke en Minder Belangrijke Foto's van de 2de helft van de 20e Eeuw. [235 Important and Less Important Photos from the 2nd half of the 20th Century.], 1986-1995.Installation, photo, paper, 235 x ( 26 x 19 cm).
>Guillaume Bijl, Sorry, 1987.Sculpture, mixed media, 15 x 8 x 15 cm.
>Guillaume Bijl, Mon Chalet [My Chalet], 1987.Installation, mixed media, 310 x 310 x 230 cm.
>Guillaume Bijl, Guillaume Bijl 'Four American Artists (Janet Fleisch, William Hall, Sam Roberts, Rick Tavares)', 1988.Book, ink, paper, 25.9 x 20.9 cm, 11p., language : English, concept catalogue : Guillaume Bijl, publisher : Museum am Ostwall, Dortmund .
>Guillaume Bijl, Composition Trouvée (Rommelmarkt), 1988.Installation, mixed media, 75 x 220 x 230 cm.
>Guillaume Bijl, Guillaume Bijl - Passages - "An intro to creative visualization", 1989.Book, ink, paper, 21 x 14.9 cm, 59 p., published by Stichting Kunst en Projecten vzw, Zedelgem, series : Passages, nr. 3/1, idea/concept/layout by Guillaume Bijl.
>Guillaume Bijl, Neuer Supermarkt, 1990.Poster, ink, paper, 81 x 71.5 cm.
>Guillaume Bijl, TV-Quiz decor [TV Quiz Show Decor], 1993.Installation, mixed media, 1300 x 900 x 400 cm.
>Guillaume Bijl, Composition Trouvée (à l'affiche / prochainement), 1993.Installation, mixed media, 100 x 180 x 6 cm.
>Guillaume Bijl, Guillaume Bijl, 1996.Book, ink, paper, 23 x 31,5 cm, 136p., publisher : Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst, Antwerpen, ISBN : 90-72828-02-X.
>Guillaume Bijl, Sorry, 2014.Multiple, 35 x 35 x 40 cm.
>Guillaume Bijl, Sorry (Paddestoelen), 2016.Sculpture.
>Guillaume Bijl, Affiches.Poster, ink, paper, variable dimensions.
Exhibitions & Ensembles
> Exhibition: A NON-U-MENTAL HISTORY OF M HKA – Part 1: Foundation Gordon Matta-Clark. 02 May 2021 - 29 August 2021.
> Exhibition: De Verzameling II en een keuze van schenkingen en bruiklenen. 30 June 1990 - 04 November 1990.
> Exhibition: EXTRA MUROS: Geel – Middle Gate II – The Story of Dymphna. 15 September 2018 - 04 November 2018.
> Exhibition: EXTRA MUROS: Visite Bornem - Gedeelde Ruimte. 03 May 2014 - 25 May 2014.
> Exhibition: EXTRA MUROS: Visite Genk - Genkenaren kiezen kunst. 02 July 2014 - 31 August 2014.
> Exhibition: Guillaume Bijl. 13 April 1996 - 09 June 1996.
> Exhibition: Guillaume Bijl – “40 YEARS INSTALLATIONS" 1979 - 2019 (Celebration). 14 September 2019 - 05 January 2020.
> Exhibition: Guillaume Bijl - Projecten en Extensies (Guillaume Bijl - Projects and Extensions). 05 October 2012 - 20 January 2013.
> Exhibition: Museum E!: Els Vanden Meersch – Storyboard. 28 January 2017 - 25 February 2017.
> Exhibition: The collection IV – Summer 2003. 31 May 2003 - 17 August 2003.
> Exhibition: The collection XXVIII – If you shoot a bullet in a vacuum, will it keep travelling forever? (Emily Wardill). 17 June 2011 - 18 September 2011.
> Exhibition: The collection XXXIII – The Collection as a Character. 07 June 2013 - 22 September 2013.
> Exhibition: The collection XXX – The Museum of Forgotten History, with intervention by Maarten Vanden Eynde. 29 June 2012 - 16 September 2012.
> Exhibition: The Eightees – A Decade of Extremes. 17 June 2016 - 18 September 2016.
> Exhibition: Urgent Conversations Athens - Antwerp. 31 October 2016 - 05 February 2017.
> Ensemble: Aanwinsten 2013 [Acquisitions 2013].
> Ensemble: Aanwinsten 2016 [Acquisitions 2016].
> Ensemble: Aanwinsten 2017 [Acquisitions 2017].
> Ensemble: Artist Books.
> Ensemble: avant-garde.
> Ensemble: Belgian Institute for World Affairs.
> Ensemble: Collectie Vlaamse Gemeenschap.
> Ensemble: Composities & Compositions Trouvées [Compositions & Compositions Trouvées].
> Ensemble: Furkapas.
> Ensemble: GEWELD | VIOLENCE.
> Ensemble: GUILLAUME BIJL ENSEMBLE.
> Ensemble: humor & tragedie [humour & tragedy].
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> Ensemble: kunstenaarsboeken uit de jaren '80 [artists' books from the 80s].
> Ensemble: M HKA_DEFAULT_PUBLICATIONS.
> Ensemble: Middle Gate.
> Ensemble: Nova Belgica / Novum Belgium.
> Ensemble: NUCLEUS.
> Ensemble: Permanent Collection / Fluxus.
> Ensemble: Situatie Installaties [Situation Installations].
> Ensemble: Stichting Gordon Matta-Clark.
> Ensemble: Transformatie Installaties [Transformation Installations].
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> Ensemble: Transformations and Situations.
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> Ensemble: Urban Landscape.