Arcadia, on light and horizons
Over the centuries, the ancient terrain of Arcadia, located in the central highlands of the Peloponnese peninsula, transgressed its physical demarcations. The term evolved to signify a distant place within the realms of imagination, a state of longing sculpted by the elegiac tone of real-life disappointment. Its depictions became a point of convergence between the world we have seen and the places we have only ever traversed in a dream. The Arcadian landscape is a celestial condition where the material world obeys the logic-defying laws of imagination.
Within this realm, contradictions exist—vistas oscillate between unbridled harmony and a rhythmic chaos. Arcadia is a place of dissolved boundaries and divine order; it is as if these landscapes are extensions of our innermost self—the very architecture of what its ancient inhabitants called psyche, the soul; a sanctuary where insecurity itself becomes a form of safety, as if a long-lost home was found in the embrace of a strangely welcoming void. In every corner of this space, desires that never found a path to reality flourish—crystallized in form and color. Time does not pass here; it remains between the light and the horizons of all gazes.
A duo exhibition featuring Lorenço Ibn Schleck and Hamed Dehqan
BiR Brussels, Belgium, 18 - 23 April, 2026
Photography: Stefano Stoppa
The research “Distant Lands, Magical Horizons” is supported by the Flemish Authorities.
Over the centuries, the ancient terrain of Arcadia, located in the central highlands of the Peloponnese peninsula, transgressed its physical demarcations. The term evolved to signify a distant place within the realms of imagination, a state of longing sculpted by the elegiac tone of real-life disappointment. Its depictions became a point of convergence between the world we have seen and the places we have only ever traversed in a dream. The Arcadian landscape is a celestial condition where the material world obeys the logic-defying laws of imagination.
Within this realm, contradictions exist—vistas oscillate between unbridled harmony and a rhythmic chaos. Arcadia is a place of dissolved boundaries and divine order; it is as if these landscapes are extensions of our innermost self—the very architecture of what its ancient inhabitants called psyche, the soul; a sanctuary where insecurity itself becomes a form of safety, as if a long-lost home was found in the embrace of a strangely welcoming void. In every corner of this space, desires that never found a path to reality flourish—crystallized in form and color. Time does not pass here; it remains between the light and the horizons of all gazes.
A duo exhibition featuring Lorenço Ibn Schleck and Hamed Dehqan
BiR Brussels, Belgium, 18 - 23 April, 2026
Photography: Stefano Stoppa
The research “Distant Lands, Magical Horizons” is supported by the Flemish Authorities.
Arcadia, On Light and Horizons, (gouache on linen), 2026
Arcadia, On Light and Horizons, (gouache on linen), 2026
Arcadia, On Light and Horizons, (gouache on linen), 2026
Arcadia, On Light and Horizons, (gouache on linen), 2026
Arcadia, On Light and Horizons, (gouache on linen), 2026
Arcadia, On Light and Horizons, (gouache on linen), 2026
Arcadia, On Light and Horizons, (gouache on linen), 2026
Flarnadoo — is a land, a feeling, a dream: or perhaps a bewitchment?
At Kasse Collective Space, 01 - 06 November, 2025
The research “Distant Lands, Magical Horizons” is supported by the Flemish Authorities.
At Kasse Collective Space, 01 - 06 November, 2025
The research “Distant Lands, Magical Horizons” is supported by the Flemish Authorities.
Flarnadoo, (gouache on linen), 2025
Flarnadoo, (gouache on linen), 2025
Flarnadoo, (gouache on linen), 2025
Flarnadoo, (gouache on linen), 2025
Flarnadoo, (gouache on linen), 2025
Flarnadoo, (gouache on linen), 2025
Funny Level
Luca School of Arts, June 2025
Part of the The research “Distant Lands, Magical Horizons”
Luca School of Arts, June 2025
Part of the The research “Distant Lands, Magical Horizons”
Funny level, (gouache on linen), 2025
Funny level, (gouache on linen), 2025
Funny level, (gouache on linen), 2025
Funny level, (gouache on linen), 2025
Funny level, (gouache on linen), 2025
Magical Horizons
I put a bunch of tricks up my sleeve, But don’t put this stuff at home!
The Green Corridor, 25 - 31 April, 2025
Part of the The research “Distant Lands, Magical Horizons”
I put a bunch of tricks up my sleeve, But don’t put this stuff at home!
The Green Corridor, 25 - 31 April, 2025
Part of the The research “Distant Lands, Magical Horizons”
Magical Horizons, (gouache on linen), 2025
Magical Horizons, (gouache on linen), 2025
Magical Horizons, (gouache on linen), 2025
Magical Horizons, (gouache on linen), 2025
Magical Horizons, (gouache on linen), 2025
Magical Horizons, (gouache on linen), 2025
Magical Horizons, (gouache on linen), 2025
Through the looking-glass
For this work, hamed produced a series of abstract paintings installed in a space inside a space. This scenography disrupts what’s inside and out, as it forces the viewer and organizes a sequential gaze and multiple ways of seeing the artworks. Hamed Dehqan considers this dynamic perception as a fantasy animation where visitors follow a path inspired by Alice in wonderland, albeit in a modernist ‘miseen-abyme’ white cube. Similarly, his meta-theatrical performances play with cartoon animations references from the 1970s and 1980s associated with the two-dimensional spaces composed in abstract painting in the same period while bringing them into the contemporary context. These multiple references stemming from various cultural origins invite the audience to take part in his fantasy space.
— Sébastien Pluot
Curated by: Sébastien Pluot
HISK - November 2023
Metropolis M: Review on Wordlines Exhibition by Ive Stevenheydens > here
more info> here
All photo credit: Van den Bussche-Vanden Bossche
For this work, hamed produced a series of abstract paintings installed in a space inside a space. This scenography disrupts what’s inside and out, as it forces the viewer and organizes a sequential gaze and multiple ways of seeing the artworks. Hamed Dehqan considers this dynamic perception as a fantasy animation where visitors follow a path inspired by Alice in wonderland, albeit in a modernist ‘miseen-abyme’ white cube. Similarly, his meta-theatrical performances play with cartoon animations references from the 1970s and 1980s associated with the two-dimensional spaces composed in abstract painting in the same period while bringing them into the contemporary context. These multiple references stemming from various cultural origins invite the audience to take part in his fantasy space.
— Sébastien Pluot
Curated by: Sébastien Pluot
HISK - November 2023
Metropolis M: Review on Wordlines Exhibition by Ive Stevenheydens > here
more info> here
All photo credit: Van den Bussche-Vanden Bossche
Through the looking-glass, (wood), 2023
Through the looking-glass, (acrylic on linen, acrylic on wood, wood), 2023
Built in the midst
‘built in the midst’ explores similarities, repetition, and differences in a magical constellation of references. The elements of the installation function as sculptures, feelings, or contexts, according to the phys-ical position of the observer. The visitor is therefore guided into the chapel in a constantly renovated discovery of various levels of visibility, seeing distinct compositions in relation to where they are standing.
Curated by Yasaman Tamizkar and Valentina Bianchi / Supported by HISK
Special thanks to Isabel Devriendt, Adriënne van der Werf, Myrna D’Ambrosio, Arno Huygens and Gert Aertsen for their generous help.
This exhibition is the third instalment of Bodies of Work, a summer programme of exhibitions and events that unfolds in the chapel of Kunsthal Extra City, Antwerp. Organised by the Curatorial Studies postgraduate at KASK & Conservatorium. bodiesofwork.be
more info >> click here
Picture by © Van den Bussche-Vanden Bossche
‘built in the midst’ explores similarities, repetition, and differences in a magical constellation of references. The elements of the installation function as sculptures, feelings, or contexts, according to the phys-ical position of the observer. The visitor is therefore guided into the chapel in a constantly renovated discovery of various levels of visibility, seeing distinct compositions in relation to where they are standing.
Curated by Yasaman Tamizkar and Valentina Bianchi / Supported by HISK
Special thanks to Isabel Devriendt, Adriënne van der Werf, Myrna D’Ambrosio, Arno Huygens and Gert Aertsen for their generous help.
This exhibition is the third instalment of Bodies of Work, a summer programme of exhibitions and events that unfolds in the chapel of Kunsthal Extra City, Antwerp. Organised by the Curatorial Studies postgraduate at KASK & Conservatorium. bodiesofwork.be
more info >> click here
Picture by © Van den Bussche-Vanden Bossche
Built in the midst, (lime, black rubber), 2022
Built in the midst, (lime, black rubber), 2022
Built in the midst, (lime, black rubber), 2022
Built in the midst, play on the green, (acrylic painting on canvas), 2022
Built in the midst, (lime, handmade soap), 2022