C A S S T L presents *Absence, Returned*, a new exhibition by Antwerp-based artists Yves de Brabander and Cedric Jacquemyn, opening during Antwerp Pride.
Yves de Brabander and Cedric Jacquemyn have lived and worked side by side for many years. Their practices have evolved in close proximity, shaped by a shared focus on material, transformation, and the relationship between presence and disappearance.
"Absence, Returned" explores what remains after something has disappeared: a garment without a body, an image removed from its original context, a fragment that carries the presence of something incomplete. The exhibition traces these shifts between absence and presence, and the ways in which objects and images continue to change over time.
In *E/Motion of a Garment*, Jacquemyn views clothing as a form that outlives its wearer. Coats, jackets, canvas works, and textile constructions retain the suggestion of a body that has withdrawn, while continuing to respond to movement, gravity, and time.
De Brabander’s new installation, *Ancestral Inferno*, draws on inventories of looted and missing cultural heritage. Taking the form of a fictional lost altarpiece divided into fragments, the work explores how images are transformed through loss and displacement. The fragmented panels become the remains of a work of art that never existed, raising questions about how histories are constructed and passed down.
Together, the works reveal two different ways of addressing what is absent: through the body’s imprint on material, and through the survival of images beyond their original form.
"Absence, Returned" is part of TOGETHER, a citywide initiative supporting the LGBTQIA+ community, launched by Carla Arocha and developed in collaboration with Stéphane Schraenen, Vanessa Van Obberghen, Jesse Siegel, Tom Sanders, Philip Huyghe, Lieven Segers, Luc Tuymans, and Clara Lissens, through which a network of Antwerp art spaces come together in the context of Antwerp Pride.
C A S S T L is a nonprofit artist initiative founded and run by Carla Arocha, Stéphane Schraenen, and Luc Tuymans since 2017. Our goal is to offer an experience that is not limited by the traditional and practical constraints of an institution or commercial space. We organize project-based events, including exhibitions, performances, readings, screenings, and publications by local and international artists.
Where: C A S S T L, Braziliëstraat 27, 2000 Antwerp
When?
Thursday, August 6, 2026, 6:00 p.m. – Friday, September 11, 2026, 5:00 p.m.
Where?
C A S S T L, Braziliëstraat 27, 2000 Antwerp