Bertrand Cavalier (1989) is a French artist based in Brussels. His work revolves around the notion of space. Through the use of photography, video and specific scenography, he investigates the relationship between Man and his surroundings, in particular the urban environment as it took shape in the age of modernism.

He develops projects which suggest a friction between rational and emotional behaviors, aiming to question our relationship to objectivity and subjectivity. The common thread in Bertrand Cavalier's artistic thinking is his focus on the idea of the physical sensation, understood as our ability to share ideas and thoughts in ways other than through objective, factual information.

Cavalier's photographs and videos are more sculptural translations of unique moments than objective documents of social phenomena. The objects and situations that he portrays are often recognizable and ordinary. Conceived as close up images, the latter reveal, just as his exhibitions does, the inherent structure of his subjects and how, as 'foreign objects', they break with the original order. In this way Cavalier emphasizes the various aspects of urban planning, including the unintentional, the 'mishap', as a quality that allows room for a subjective and personal use of the cities in which we live.

Bertrand Cavalier received his MFA from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp in 2018. He exhibited at FRAC Orléans, BIP Liège, FOMU Antwerp and Photoforum Pasquart during the Biel/Bienne Festival of Photography. His work has been awarded by the Sébastien van der Straten fund. He published ‘Concrete Doesn't Burn’ with Fw:Books in 2020. His work can be seen at Art Press, American Suburb X, C4 Journal and Mouvement, among others. In 2021, he participated in the residency Artwell Amsterdam and the Cité Internationale des Arts Paris in 2023.

Education

2016 - 2018Royal Academy for Fine Arts, MFA in photography, Antwerp, BE
2010 - 2013School of Arts (Le 75), BA in photography, Brussels, BE

Books

2020Concrete Doesn’t Burn published by Fw:Books *

Grants & Awards

2023bourse résidence arts visuels, sabam, BE
2023Aide à la mobilité internationale, Wallonie-Bruxelles International, BE
2023Bourse d’aide à la création, Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles, BE
2022Nominee, C/O Berlin Talent Award, Berlin, DE
2022Flanders Art Fund
2021Bourse d’aide à la création, Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles, BE
2021Nominee, FOAM Paul Huf Award, Amsterdam, NL
2019Shortlisted, Photographic Museum of Humanity Grant, IT
2019Selected for .tiff, Fotomuseum FOMU, Antwerp, BE
2019Winner, Sébastien Van der Straten Grant, BE
2019Participant, Plat(t)form, Fotomuseum Winterthur, CH
2018Nominee, International Photography Grant
2018Cosmos pdf award, 2nd place, Les Rencontres d'Arles, Arles, FR
2015Fotofilmic’15, 2nd place, Vancouver, CA

Selected shows

2024Espace JB, Geneva, CH (forthcoming)
2023Art Au Centre, Liège, BE (forthcoming)
2023Biel/Bienne Festival of Photography, Photoforum Pasquart, Bienne, CH
2023Exhibition 01, jette400, brussels, be
2023THE NIGHT WATCH, radiophonic creation with Aho Ssan, curated by Claire Contamine, société d'électricité, brussels, be *
2023Atlas Chimérique, gallery Talmart, curated by Sara Anedda, Paris, FR
2023Frontwindows occupation, Centre Wallonie-Bruxelles, Paris, FR
2023Topographie Sensible, gallery Talmart, curated by Ariane Skoda, Paris, FR
2022Solo show, Madé gallery, Paris, FR
2022Group show: Chance is logical, tegenboschvanvreden gallery, Amsterdam, NL
2021Unseen fair with tegenboschvanvreden gallery, Amsterdam, NL
2020Solo show with Concrete Doesn’t Burn, BIP, Beaux-Arts gallery, Liège, BE
2019Fotofinish with Concrete Doesn’t Burn, Rietveld Pavilion, Amersfoort, NL
2019Orléans Biennial with Space Between Us, FRAC, Orléans, FR
201931 Days of .TIFF with Concrete Doesn’t Burn, FOMU, Antwerp, BE
2018BredaPhoto with Concrete Doesn’t Burn, biennial, Breda, NL
2018CBBF with Concrete Doesn’t Burn curated by Nadia Bijl, Zuiderpershuis, Antwerp, BE
201845 Degrés, Mulhouse Photography Biennal, Mulhouse, FR
2017New Faces with Concrete Doesn’t Burn, Hangar 18 Art Center, Brussels, BE
2017Musée de la Photographie de Bruxelles / Museum van de Fotografie van Brussel, BE
2017Inter City One Night Only, Contemporary Art Center Extra City, Antwerp, BE
2016Omber, Odradek & Octaëder, curated by Hans Theys, D'Apostrof gallery, Meigem, BE
2016Lost Narratives, Mayer Van Den Bergh Museum, Antwerp, BE
2016Speaking in Tongues, with La Grotte, Biennale de l’image Possible (BIP), Luik, BE
2015Fotofilmic, travelling exhibition, New York, Vancouver, Seoul
2015Speaking in Tongues, with La Grotte, gallery Le Botanique, Brussels, BE
2015Dehors La Grotte, with La Grotte, Dehors Contemporary Art Window, Brussels, BE
2014La Jeune Création, Cent Quatre, Paris, FR
2014ManifestO, Cours Dillon, Toulouse, FR

Selected publications

2023Absys magazine, conversation with Claire Contamine, Centre Wallonie-Bruxelles (forthcoming)
2022Mouvement n°115, cover and portfolio *
2021Hapax Magazine curated by Iris Siking *
2021C4 Journal text by Eugenie Shinkle *
2021Art Press n°488 with Concrete Doesn't Burn, text by Anne Immelé *
2021Velvet Eyes interview with Ilias Lois *
2021C41 Magazine with Concrete Doesn’t Burn *
2021Punto de Fuga interview with Laura Carbonell *
2021Phases with Concrete Doesn't Burn *
2020American Suburb X ‘Concrete Doesn’t Burn, it Crumbles.’, text by Brad Feuerhelm *
2019FRAC Centre ‘Years of Solitude’, exhibition catalogue, text by Bram Van Beek *
2019PH Museum, ‘Architectural Banality in Post-War European Cities’, text by Laurence Cornet *
2019Futures, European platform for photography, interview *
2019GUP magazine, interview with Angelo Zinna *
2019.TIFF magazine, Fotomuseum FOMU *
2018ARPA journal 05, 'Contingent Objectives', Columbia University NYC, text by common room *
2017The Belgian Platform for Photobooks interview by Stefan Vanthuyne with La Grotte collective, BE *

Residencies, talks, lectures

2023Residency 2-12, Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris, FR
2021Residency, 6 months at Artwell, Amsterdam, NL
2019Lecture, HELB, Brussels, BE
2019Lecture, La Cambre Art School, Brussels, BE
2019Lecture, KASKA Royal Academy for Fine Arts, Antwerp, BE
2019Presentation, Belgian Night, Les Rencontres d'Arles, Arles, FR
2018Lecture, .tiff talks, FOMU, Antwerp, BE
2018Talk, BredaPhoto with Sybren Vanoverberghe, Joris Deleersnyder and Saskia Naafs, Breda, NL
2017Braakland residency, Speaking in Tongues, with La Grotte, FOMU, Antwerp, BE

Public collections

Fonds Régional d’Art Contemporain Centre-Val de Loire (FRAC Orléans), FR

Collective projects

2023 - 202*Jette400, artist run-space
2020 - 2022Plateau, artist run-space
201845 Degrés, biennale de la photographie Mulhouse, chapelle Saint Jean, FR
2012 - 2018co-founder of the Brussels based artist collective La Grotte *