Carla Arocha & Stéphane Schraenen — 20 Years and More: Works from the Collection
24 January 2026 - 24 May 2026
M HKA, Antwerp
Carla Arocha (b. 1961, Caracas, Venezuela) and Stéphane Schraenen (b. 1971, Antwerp) have worked together as an artist duo for over twenty years. Across sculpture, painting, photography and installation, they investigate how space, reflection and perception shape the act of looking. Their work calls for a critical way of looking.
The first gallery brings together their individual practices and early collaborations. Carla Arocha's Screen (2005) consists of six suspended semi-transparent panels that function like a mobile, engaging light, movement and the viewer's presence. Stéphane Schraenen's Sleeping Room (1999-2024) is part of the series What | Don't See at Night. In these abstract nocturnal cityscapes, darkness, colour and reflection intersect. The silkscreen print Persiana (2014) by Arocha & Schraenen evokes window blinds.
Who is looking and who is being watched?
The new installation Landscape (Antwerp) (2026) occupies the circular gallery. Arocha & Schraenen have transformed the colour palette of an urban view into monumental fields of colour. Reflective structures capture light, colour and movement, projecting them back into the space. Architecture, environment and viewer become active elements in a continuously shifting experience.
With thanks to the artists, and in particular for the donation of Landscape (Antwerp).
Items
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Sleeping Room
Stéphane Schraenen, Sleeping Room, 2024. Painting, acrylic paint and ultra-pigmented acrylic paint on canvas, 164 x 272 cm.
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Screen
Carla Arocha, Screen, 2005. Installation, plexi, stainless steel, 216.4 x 350 x 150 cm.
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Framed (Lime Green)
Carla Arocha & Stéphane Schraenen , Framed (Lime Green), 2011. Mixed Media, silkscreen on enameled plexiglass (edition of 15 unique works), 29.5 x 24.5 x 1.5 cm.
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Persiana
Carla Arocha & Stéphane Schraenen , Persiana, 2014. Print, silkscreen in 5 colors on velin bfk rives 300 g (ap ii, edition of 30 + 5 ap), silkscreen 54.5 x 92 cm; sheet 80 x 120.5 cm.
Media
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Carla Arocha
Carla Arocha (°1961, Caracas, Venezuela) has been living in Antwerp with her husband Luc Tuymans for many years now. She has been working wit
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Carla Arocha & Stéphane S...
Carla Arocha (b. 1961) is from Caracas, Venezuela, but has been living and working in Antwerp for years. Since 2005 she forms an artistic duo
