“ The sublimation of the subtext”

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sculpture/installation 2019

maquette version circa 60x50x47

1:1 version 250x160x100

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In The Sublimation of the Subtext, Jonas Vansteenkiste delves into the peculiar and poetic cultural habit of naming houses and villas—a widespread phenomenon in Belgium where homeowners affix names like Summer Breeze, My Dream, or La Douceur to the façades of their residences. These names, often forged in ornate ironwork and proudly displayed on the exterior, carry more than just sentimentality; they represent a projection of desire, an idealized self-image, and a utopian vision of domestic life.

Vansteenkiste interprets this practice as an act of sublimation: a transformation of the complexity and fragility of life into an external fiction of harmony and stability. The house name becomes an extension of the architectural façade—a verbal counterpart to the visual first impression. What message do we want to convey to the outside world? What identity are we performing through our domestic front?

By contrast, the interior reality—filled with doubt, ambiguity, or emotional dissonance—is left unnamed and unseen. Vansteenkiste confronts this disjunction by creating a sculptural deconstruction of the traditional house façade. Onto this stripped framework, he introduces a new set of house names—ones that disrupt the idealism of their predecessors and hint at the psychological and philosophical undercurrents of inhabitation.

Drawing from Freudian psychoanalysis, Nietzschean thought, and linguistic ambiguity, the artist replaces conventional house names with terms like Uncanny, Detached, Folly, Dwelling, Unsettled, and Unheimlich. These titles carry double meanings: they can denote both domesticity and disorientation, sanctuary and estrangement. The home is no longer simply a haven—it becomes a space where contradictions dwell, where identity is negotiated, and where crisis can quietly unfold.

Through this conceptual gesture, Vansteenkiste not only critiques the idealized imagery projected by domestic architecture but also offers a deeper reflection on the psychological landscapes we inhabit. The home becomes a site of tension between appearance and experience, between name and subtext, between the comfort we seek and the complexity we carry.

In The Sublimation of the Subtext, the house is both a literal structure and a metaphorical shell—fragile, performative, and profoundly human.

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