But after all the mayhem I was still here. I found a new apartment, because the old one was full of bad memories, where I could live as well as work. It was big enough to be my studio as well.
I wasn't planning to give up any time soon.
As always the new studio quickly filled up with old and new works.
Poster design for the play "Mijn Blackie". This was with the second play, this time directed by Arne Sierens himself, that I did. It was here that I found my way of creating a stage design or at least the direction that it would take.
The play was set at a cafe somewhere in the country, but instead of showing this place, which would be the conventional way, I opted for something different. The exact opposite, actually. The play was staged in front of a real concrete wall on a floor (a few tons) of pebbles, the wall behind the cafe, so to speak. It made me realize how important the material was, that, if you fake it (like it normally was), your stage set would look and feel fake.
The more realistic you made a set design, the more unrealistic it became.The more abstract the design, the more realistic it would be.