Birds between set and reality - staged scenes by Hans van Asch

In the work of Hans van Asch, birds inhabit carefully constructed worlds. They appear as iconic figures, as part of an open-ended situation, or as the protagonist in a small anecdote.

At times, the bird assumes an almost solemn position, for example on a pedestal or within an architectural frame. At the same time, it remains a real animal that does not always conform to its surroundings. In other works, something seems to be happening without the image revealing exactly what. The bird may be waiting, watching, arriving, or departing, leaving room for the viewer to create their own narrative.

Hans van Asch (Dordrecht, 1964) is a visual artist who works with photography as his medium. The environments in his images are conceived and controlled, while the bird brings with it chance, behaviour, and a presence of its own. This tension between control and freedom lies at the heart of his work.

‘Birds between set and reality’ can be seen from 4 October 2026 through 3 January 2027.

From 11 December 2026 through 7 March 2027, Gallery Untitled will present the solo exhibition ‘Empty Stages’, featuring two rooms of new work by Hans van Asch. In these works, living garden birds appear within abandoned architectural settings inspired by the Late Gothic and Early Renaissance periods. The birds temporarily take the place of saints, angels, and other sacred figures, thereby bringing new life to spaces that have lost their original meaning.