Özgür Kar — MALAISE

The first institutional solo exhibition of Özgür Kar in Belgium, MALAISE, features a new site-specific installation. The presentation includes theatrical sound and video installation that explores themes of collective unease, stagnation, and endurance.

Özgür Kar’s artistic practice operates at the intersection of theater, sound, sculpture, and animation. He creates immersive installations that prompt existential reflections on transience, isolation, and the cyclical nature of human experience. His distinctive visual language combines minimalist animation with intricate soundscapes and dark humor. By transforming video into sculptural objects, Kar challenges traditional boundaries between moving image, performance, sculpture, and installation.

His works can be seen as contemporary reinterpretations of medieval allegories and traditional animation techniques. He draws inspiration from a diverse range of sources, including medieval manuscripts, the Gothic tradition, minimalist musical compositions and absurdist theater. The characters in his animations are often trapped in endless loops, delivering soliloquies that resonate with a sense of existential anxiety and absurdity. The sound compositions, created in collaboration with musicians and voice actors, add additional layers of interpretation, deepening the immersive experience of his installations.

For MALAISE, Kar will create a site-specific installation consisting of a large-scale animation and a sound piece. This work marks a significant turning point in his practice, as he explores the architectural aspects of the space, the concept of theatricality through the use of scenographic elements such as light and sound, and themes of belonging and isolation—where emotions of closeness and estrangement remain in constant tension.

About IN SITU

Through the In Situ programme, Muhka invests in the contemporary art scene. Artists from around the world are invited to create new work in the Point Room, the museum’s most atypical space. Experimentation takes centre stage: here, artists can push the boundaries of their practice with the support of the museum. In Situ highlights the pioneering spirit of both emerging and established talents.