Biography
In his work, he addresses performative and embodied aspects of photographic materiality and time. He uses the body as a device to capture images; through the construction of an experience, often performative and over time.
Audience gets invited through different projects and hybrid formats into a journey of lecture performances, site specific interventions, installations and book projects. What he is most known for though, are his Walk Pieces in which participants are taken in silence through the physicality and infrastructures of built environment.
From 2012 onward, Bergé began working with the archive of photographs taken by August Klipstein and Charles-Édouard Jeanneret (who would later come to be known as Le Corbusier) during their ‘Voyage en Orient’ from 1911. Two installations and a book negotiating the production of documents from this historic trip slowly uncover an early twentieth-century desire for spatial understanding, rather than photographic representation.
David Bergé’s work has been presented at various international art centers including Kunsthal Extra City in Antwerp (2018, 2015, 2016); SKD, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen in Dresden (2018); Thessaloniki State Museum of Contemporary Art (2018); Out of Sight in Antwerp (2019); Z33 / Atelier Bouwmeester in Brussels (2017); CAC in Vilnius (2015); STUK arts center in Leuven (2017, 2013); SALT, Istanbul (2011); KCB Belgrade (2013), NETWERK Center for Contemporary Art, Aalst (2019, 2015, 2012, 2009); Maison Particulière, Brussels (2014); Gati New Delhi (2011); TanzQuartier Wien, Vienna (2010) and Kunsthaus Muerz, Muerzzuschlag (2012).
During the first lockdown, he founded kyklàda.press a publishing initiative in Athens and has also published books with MER. Paper Kunsthalle (2015), Jap Sam Books (2020) and others.
David Bergé has been invited to artist in residence programs around the world, such as Pivô (São Paulo), The Cape Cod Modern House Trust (Wellfleet, USA), Beta-Local (San Juan, Puerto Rico), geoAIR (Tbilisi), Haus der Kulturen der Welt (Berlin, curator: Andre Lepecki) and the Saari Residence of the Kone Foundation in Finland.
Since 2009, Bergé has been teaching and mentoring at a number of different institutions, including Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology in Bangalore (IN); Beckett University in Leeds (UK), the Architectural Association in London (UK), Ghent University (BE); UdK, University of the Arts in Berlin; LUCA school of the Arts, Brussels, and many others.
Bergé has also produced set designs in the form of projections for artists Trajal Harrell and Marc Vanrunxt of which results were presented at Kaaitheater, Brussels (2009), MoMA, New York (2013) and The Barbican, London (2017).
David Bergé currently lives in Athens and Brussels and holds an MA from the Dutch Art Institute (2017) and an MFA from LUCA Brussels (2005).
In residentie Time Based Editions #3, Me, Le Corbusier, and a friend
01.01.2025 – 01.01.2025
A series of books directed by David Bergé and Ant Hampton binding print to time, merging sound with paper.
Time Based Editions offers an ingenious new format: an audio track combines narration, soundscapes, and instructions that guide you through a photo book. Kanal and CIVA present the premiere of the third book in the series: Me, Le Corbusier, and a Friend.
In 1911, Charles-Édouard Jeanneret (later Le Corbusier) and his friend August Klipstein embarked on a seven-month journey to “the Orient.” The visual material in Me, Le Corbusier, and a Friend consists of photographs the young Swiss men took during this trip with a camera and glass plates they carried—a physical challenge difficult to imagine today. The imperfections of the plates create a sense of authenticity.
The audio component is built around a fictional dialogue between the two protagonists. In it, artist David Bergé imagines the young men traveling through the various landscapes and encountering themselves during the seven-month journey.
Time Based Editions was founded in 2023 by artists David Bergé and Ant Hampton. Each book in the series is a unique work by a different artist or artist group. “Me, Le Corbusier, and a Friend” is a creation by David Bergé. In his work, he transforms objects and things from everyday life into participatory “time- and book-based” forms.
In residentie Winternights 2024
13.12.2024 – 14.12.2024
The ninth edition of Winternights returns this year to the Lutheran Church and the Statenkwartier in Maastricht. The festival offers a glimpse behind the scenes of the performing arts, with work-in-progress presentations by today’s talents and tomorrow’s vanguard. These ‘unfinished’ projects are presented by innovative, groundbreaking makers who cannot be captured in traditional disciplines. Think of choreographers, theatre makers, performers, composers, filmmakers and visual artists who explore new forms with daring projects and combine disciplines such as performance, installation art, dance and theatre.
Whether you are a maker, enthusiast, colleague, programmer, student or partner – we cordially invite you to participate in Winternights. During the festival, twelve selected makers will present unfinished work that they want to test and investigate, together with you. The Lutheran Church will once again be the beating heart of Winternights, with various spaces in and around the church and the Statenkwartier being transformed into studios, presentation spaces, laboratories and dance floors.
This year, the following talented makers will contribute to Winternights:
Samuel Baidoo, Princess Isatu Hassan Bangura, David Bergé, Rita Bifulco, Laura Dreyer, Ata Güner, Emi Kodama, Sofie Kramer, Salomé Mooij, Naomi Steijger, Barbara TJonck, Hüseyin Umaysiz
In addition to the public program, Winternights offers morning sessions in which makers, interested parties and professionals can meet and deepen. These sessions are all about exchange and inspiration: conversations, ideas and fantasies are given the space to grow freely and spontaneously.
