Diederik Peeters

Despite graduating in visual arts, Diederik Peeters somehow got stuck in the stables of the performing arts, where he’s been spotted in the work of fellow artists, sneakily disguised as actor, performer, or even advisor. Most of the time, though, he prefers cooking up his own artistic brews — often in cahoots with carefully chosen partners in crime.

Over the years, he has committed a number of shows and performances, including Chuck Norris doesn’t sleep, he waits, Red Herring, and Apparitions. His artistic practice is driven by a chronic fondness for confusion: solid, unshakeable realities are gleefully sabotaged, while absurdities and contradictions pile up to reveal worlds in constant mutation, where nothing is ever quite what it seems. In his visual shows, he delights in pushing the limits of theatrical machinery. The trilogy (Thriller, Red Herring, and Hulk) respectively explored scenography, sound, and light as central dramaturgical elements.

With Confabulations, Peeters’ latest project, he extends his investigation of illusion, perception, and the invisible. This time, an interest in the history (and future) of psychiatry provides the pathway into his artistic maze…

Together with Kate McIntosh and Hans Bryssinck, he co-founded SPIN, a Brussels-based platform for artistic support and reflection. Alongside Anna Czapski, he was affiliated with KASK / School of Arts in Ghent (BE) for the research project Futurology of Cooperation. He also occasionally pops up in various educational contexts of art schools and universities.