Frederik Langhendries

Our digital society still produces masses of paper: junk mail, publicity flyers, administrative forms, newspapers, and so on. Most of it ends up in waste paper bins in front of our homes or offices. Even shredded and bagged confidential papers are sometimes discarded in public space with the greatest nonchalance.  All of these papers carry a personal history or tracks that Frederik Langhendries transforms in order to give them a new meaning. His lithographic series "Waste Paper" is based on papers collected in the street in Brussels. He cuts, tears, and creases the papers in order to make new compositions that are subsequently scanned and reshaped again by scratching, cutting, soaking in ink, folding, and perforating.  Finally, the scan is transferred onto a lithographic stone where it is again reshaped before the final printing process.

This series of screen prints on paper and plywood is a tribute to the wheel, symbolizing movement, distance, and the passage of time.

In addition to a series of screen prints on paper, Langhendries also printed wheel and tire patterns on large, round plywood panels. Some are equipped with a small electric engine that drives the plywood wheel. The engine is linked to a remote-control dashboard to define rotation speed.

This screen-print series was inspired by the 2015 underground metro works in Brussels.
During months of construction, some stations evolved into mazes where commuters got lost and had to find their way through improvised facilities made of any material the construction workers had on hand. Stripped concrete walls were turned into giant black boards where surveyors and site supervisors wrote down their calculations in white chalk. These indecipherable graffiti had something in common with ancient runic inscriptions on stones and playfully interfered with the official metro signage. All of these obstacles brought even more confusion to the passengers lost in this underground space in permanent construction and deconstruction.

Series of screen prints on assembled plywood and wood.

The Boxes in Transit mobile installation consists of a series of screen-printed cardboard boxes that comprise the colors and pictographs of the containers on the cargo ships that sail from one port to another.

Artistic approach by Frederik Langhendries

My playground.
What child hasn’t played on the floor with bricks of different colors?  I spent my childhood close to Antwerp (Belgium) and quickly became fascinated by the containers that I saw from the window of the family car. These containers are an ever-present feature of harbor cities and are impossible to ignore. Roads seem to be built around them; indeed, you could steer through a slalom course of giant structures built out of these colorful ”bricks.” Several trips to the port of Hamburg (Germany) have brought back happy memories of the playground of my childhood.

The test of time.
Containers are rarely treated with great care:  they get knocked about, they get covered in dents and scratches, and are also corroded by the salt in sea spray. To extend their working life they can be patched up, re-welded, and given a lick of paint here and there. However, the reality is that every journey leaves its scars. The restricted color palette and the damaged surfaces are testament to the trials and tribulations of long journeys. This very individual patina has provided wonderful inspiration for the processing of the cardboard, the variations in screen ruling and the multi layers of ink applied in the screen-printing process.

Order or chaos? A world in constant movement.
A harbor never sleeps. Thousands work at harbors both day and night. Ships and cranes continuously intertwine in a slow and stately ballet. Roads and railway lines intersect one another in a complex web that wraps itself around an occasional piece of lifeless wasteland. However, behind this image of chaos lies a perfectly oiled machine: tightly aligned warehouses, standardized measurements, precisely timed deliveries. In a harbor, nothing gets left to chance.

Boxes in Transit captures this continuous movement – the “just in time” performance of the world that we live in. The interaction between the elements of the installation might entice the public to respond creatively – to fold and unfold the boxes or to reposition them. The wooden pallet is not static; it suggests potential energy, that the objects it carries are still in search of their rightful place, things in transit. The installation is determined to be free and always ready to move on. In common with the metal mastodons, the small cardboard containers are also on a journey, from city to city, in various configurations according to the exhibition.

Lock, stock, and barrel.
The installation borrows many elements from the striking variety of graphic elements on the sides of containers: instructions for maximum loads, shipping companies’ logos, safety pictograms, etc. I also make use of accessories and materials that are a constant feature of transportation: cardboard boxes are virtually the most common packaging in our daily lives, wooden pallets play a vital role in the modern transportation of goods, and cargo straps hold the loads firmly in place.

Out into the world.
After many hours of careful screen printing, the cardboard boxes are finally ready to leave the studio and head for the harbor, in anticipation of the open seas. Filled with ballast and securely tied so that they are impervious to squalls of wind, we filmed and photographed them surrounded by their big metal brothers. Dockworkers, fork-lift truck drivers, and crane operators have taken part in the game: they have all helped load the mini-cargo on to a real container ship. Bon voyage!

Technical description.
The installation consists of screen-printed cardboard boxes, wooden pallets, and cargo straps. The number of boxes, the dimensions of the pallets, and any additional accessories will vary according to the configuration of the available exhibition space.   

Frederik Langhendries applied screen-printing techniques to cover some 150 standard cardboard boxes (19.7” x 11.8” x 11.8” - 50 x 30 x 30 cm) on each of their 12 outer sides (each side plus bottom and top flaps) with patterns inspired by the sides of shipping containers. He photographed the containers that lined the harbors of Antwerp (Belgium) and Hamburg (Germany) that had captured his imagination.

The Boxes in Transit project includes a screen-printed installation, a video, a collection of photographs, and furniture.

KEWLOX® is an iconic Belgian furniture company with an ingenious storage system invented 60 years ago.

In 2015, Frederik Langhendries customised several pieces of furniture by hand screen-printing container patterns on the MDF fibreboard panels as a continuation of the Boxes in Transit project.

Kewlox furniture is easy to assemble, dismantle, and reassemble thanks to a solid framework and without requiring glue, nails or screws.

Photos shot in the Port of Antwerp (Belgium).

Book featuring the Boxes in Transit project published in August 2016 by Editions K1L (Belgium).

Boxes in Transit is a mobile installation consisting of a series of screen-printed cardboard boxes that comprise the colors and pictographs of the containers stored in ports or on cargo ships.

Luxury edition in 200 numbered and signed copies.
Offset print on Biotop 160 gr., 64 pages, binding with open back, cover with dry embossing, DVD with video included ($ 25).

This series of five large screen-prints is based on the shapes of iron scrap on a construction site where a 1960´s concrete office building had been demolished. The waste materials had been sorted on the site, and the steel bars had been stored in large heaps, both ready for transport to recycling plants.

The heaps of metal scrap imminently waiting to be removed looked like big bird nests or even balls of wool. The gnarled iron with their half rusted grey-brown patina presented an unlimited variety of shapes.

Frederik Langhendries selected photo fragments of the iron waste with interesting shapes. These fragments have been processed to maximize contrast and to turn the greyscale into a black/white threshold. The fragments were cut in a wide range of 5-inch (12 cm) squares, which were then mixed and superposed in order to create new shapes and structures. This project resulted in a series of five large screen prints called “Iron inferno” or “Ferrailles infernales” in French.

Screen-print in black on Canson Academy
Size L 29” x H 43” (L 73 x H 110 cm)

Edition of 5

These black and white screen-prints form a five-piece portfolio (2012). The term “Temporal” refers to the notion of time. The black shapes merely result from the free and swift movements of ink on a smooth surface. Although these shapes may be interpreted as abstract hand writings, no drawing tools were used, and there has been no manual intervention.

Screen-prints on Canson Academy 250gr.

Size print: H 13” x 16.3” (H 30 x L 42 cm)
Size paper: H 21.5” x 29” (H 55 x L 73 cm)

Limited edition of 3-5.

These black and white screen-prints form a 15-piece portfolio (2012). The term “Vento” refers to the wind, and the free and swift movements and spraying of ink on a smooth sheet. No drawing tools have been used and there has been no manual intervention even if these shapes may be interpreted as abstract hand writings.

Black and white screen-prints on Canson Academy 250gr.

Size print: H 13” x 16.3” (H 30 x L 42 cm)
Size paper: H 21.5” x 29” (H 55 x L 73 cm)

Small editions.