Cinema Ensor
This exhibition presents an intriguing encounter between moving and still images. The screening of three exceptional film clips by Guillaume Bijl and Jean Strijckers is combined with striking photographic prints on Dibond, which bring moments from the past and the imagination to life.
From a seemingly authentic yet entirely staged portrait of James Ensor in Ostend, to a behind-the-scenes look at the creative process, to rare 16mm footage of the city in 1958: each film plays with time, reality and memory. Together, they form a multi-layered story about art, myth and the soul of Ostend.
Guillaume Bijl (1946–2025) gained international fame for his large-scale realistic installations, in which he depicted cultural phenomena from Western capitalist society.
In the spring of 1958, Ostend resident Jean Strijckers captured images of Ostend on 16mm film as part of his final project at the Academy of Film and Photography in Brussels (Narafi).
