Hans Op de Beeck's Danse Macabre Transforms Tenuta dello Scompiglio into an Enigmatic Night Park

Belgian artist Hans Op de Beeck (b. Turnhout, 1969) presents Danse Macabre, a solo exhibition at the Associazione Culturale dello Scompiglio in Vorno, near Lucca, on view until October 25, 2026. Curated by Angel Moya Garcia, the show features a monumental site-specific installation in the underground hall of the SPE (Spazio Performatico Espositivo) and an animated short film in an adjacent room. The central carousel, recreated at natural scale, is adorned with unsettling elements: fruit, provisions, candles, carriages, skeletons in 19th-century attire, fish, synchronized birds, and trained seals. A winding path, pale streetlamps, bare trees, and black puddles beside burning barrels complete the surreal diorama, dominated by gray tones. The animated film Vanishing Point, titled after the 1970s road movie, supports the exhibition's critical structure by exploring a perceptual logic where a fictitious point in the landscape constantly changes yet remains the same. The installation invites viewers to walk around the carousel, creating a counterpoint between movement and sculptural stasis. This participatory experience reflects Op de Beeck's mastery in making art a collective, shared action. The exhibition aligns with the Tenuta's romantic accent in contemporary art, seen in past projects like Cecilia Bertoni's Rubedo (2024), Chiara Bettazzi's Reverse (2024), Enrico Vezzi's L'ordine immaginario (2023), and group shows Della morte e del morire (2021) and Open Group's Years (2025).