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).