Aline Verstraten

Aline Verstraten is conducting her PhD research at PXL-MAD School of Arts and the University of Hasselt. In her research, she explores the concept of the withdrawing image. The objective is to explore whether and how the image can regain its autonomy by withdrawing, and the subject, in the process of perceiving this image, its interiority. Through a thorough literature study, which is inspired by the ways Grootenboer, Mitchell and Didi-Huberman understand images to have a certain agency and autonomy, as well as through the composition of an extensive archive of withdrawing images, characteristics of the withdrawing image are derived and definitions developed. Furthermore, the ways in which the withdrawing image affects the bodily and mental experiences of the viewer is explored. A final area of interest is what role the physical act of painting plays in the constitution of withdrawing images. Throughout this project, knowledge is gathered by alternating between reading, writing and painting. This combination of a theoretical and practical approach is crucial in order to impact the domain of art theory and history as well as artistic practice.