Shortlist, Conference of the Birds by Sybren Vanoverberghe

"‘Conference of the Birds is a body of work in which the artist, Sybren Vanoverberghe, has forensically interpreted a site in Iran by looking for observable characteristics which could potentially declare, in photographic terms, clues to the decimation of its being. The site, previously burnt to the ground, has been left to a ruinous existence. This village that Vanoverberghe has documented challenges our need for answers with a solution to look at it through metaphor, sculptural analysis and non-agreeable positions of historical interpretation. In Vanoverberghe’s case, he is not looking for finite meaning through the act of observing this site, but rather wishes to illustrate a condition of place and its multiple possibilities for historical representations.’

Brad Feuerhelm on Conference of the Birds for the publication .tiff, published by FOMU Antwerp, Belgium"