These three photographers share a common approach to photography, which is strongly associated with other practices such as sculpture, installation and performance art. Using these various forms of expression, they push the limits of the photographic medium, not only through composition, but also in the presentation of their work. This show works like a game of construction that leaves out one important aspect of the exhibition, the installations that resemble their body of work.

Beyond their formal similarities, these photographers also work around several common themes such as the search for identity, the quest for freedom, and the limitations of being human with its doubts, frustrations and desires. In this show, each artist builds his own space for games and thoughts, personal introspections that are also an acerbic critique of contemporary society. Their parallel worlds intersect, mix, and at times, encroach.

Melanie Bonajo, through her series Are All Clichés True?, attaches chairs, domestic appliances, bicycles, or other daily objects to her models using cords and gags. Referencing bondage (the erotic practice of constraining one’s partner), she raises consciousness of the female condition and its representation. Recalling his or her own fantasies and taboos, the viewer oscillates between laughter and embarrassment, desire and repulsion.

This paradox is also present in the project Why Flies don’t fly by Jaap Scheeren. Using sentences extracted from newspaper articles, he creates a world on alert, threatened by unidentified dangers. The spectator attempting to interpret this installation sees each view opposed by a new information or a humorous turn. This disorder symbolizes the confusion and general panic created by media terror. At times impertinent, Jaap Scheeren denounces the chaos of manipulated information through his undeniable sense of humor.

Lukas Wassmann also embarks us into an imperceptible universe - this time, an imaginary landscape - where the balance between escape and reality seems pointless. He plays with the concepts of presence/absence by manipulating daily objects into unexpected situations, plunging the viewer once more into an impossible rationalization or a redemptive contemplation. In this show, Lukas Wassmann asserts his past as a carpenter through photographic sculptures and ambitious sets. A landscape, made of wood paneling, guides us through an enlightening photographic route.

Humor and derision occupy a major role in the work of these three artists, sometimes only as a remedy/evasion of their questions, but especially to remind us once more that art is, before all else, a game