Dialogues Silencieux: Carel Visser - Wieteke Heldens - Piet Moget

LAC Sigean presents a dialogue between two Dutch artists from different generations: sculptor Carel Visser (1928-2015) and conceptual artist Wieteke Heldens (1982). The exhibition explores connections between their oeuvres, which despite different media and temporal contexts share a fascination for structure, repetition, and process.

Visser is considered a key figure in post-war Dutch sculpture. He transformed industrial materials into rhythmic compositions and created tensions between the mechanical and natural. He represented the Netherlands at the Venice Biennale (1968) and Documenta 4, and his work is held in collections including the Stedelijk Museum, Boijmans Van Beuningen, and MoMA. From 1999, he lived in southern France.

Heldens develops conceptual work in which the making process is central. Through self-imposed rule systems, she creates interplay between control and chance in paintings, drawings, and installations. She won the Royal Prize for Free Painting (2013) and her work has been exhibited at venues including Kunstmuseum Den Haag and Museum Voorlinden. She lives and works in New York.

Despite their differences, both artists share a pursuit of reduction and systematicity. For Visser through serial forms and geometric compositions, for Heldens through rigidly following rules where deviations become essential. Both demonstrate how freedom emerges within constraint.

Photography David Huguenin