Hans Op de Beeck is a Belgian artist who recently converted an old Gothic church in Toulouse, France into a multi-sensory art installation as part of the Printemps de Septembre Festival.
Named ‘The Garden of Whispers’, the installation is filled with sprawling sand dunes that are navigated by following a narrow wooden pathway. A basic strand of lighting leads the way along the path that is lined with lifeless trees, camping outposts, and various performers.
According to Op de Beeck, the installation embodies his view that “man as a being who stages the world around him in a tragi-comic way.”
The exhibit is completed with the aforementioned whispers, which is played through a soundtrack to give a haunting audio experience to coincide with the striking visuals. References to history, religion, and even mythology can be found throughout, and various items are presented along the way, such as pots, pans, bottles, bedding.
There is a certain sense of abandonment as you traverse the area, almost as if the place was once thriving but has since been long forgotten. How the empty space is now viewed is left to the visitor, with the artist leaving it open to interpretation.
