Photography, artist book, printed art, large scale prints
The problem of UFO's is, as you rightly say, a very fascinating one. Carl Gustav Jung
From an early age, Dirk Bouwen was fascinated by the worlds imagined by science fiction writers such as Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov and Philip K. Dick. Beyond stories of distant galaxies and technological futures, these narratives explored fundamental questions about human perception, belief and the possibility of realities that lie beyond our current understanding.
This fascination eventually led to The Visitors, an Outer Space Novel, a project that examines the enduring tension between rational explanation and the unknown. Reports of unexplained aerial phenomena have long occupied a curious place within contemporary culture, situated somewhere between science, mythology and collective imagination. Rather than seeking definitive answers, Bouwen approaches the subject as a cultural and psychological phenomenon that reveals how humans respond to mystery and uncertainty.
Influenced in part by the writings of Carl Gustav Jung, who regarded UFOs as powerful symbolic manifestations within the collective unconscious, the project investigates the relationship between observation, belief and interpretation. What happens when an experience resists explanation? How do memory, expectation and imagination shape what we think we have seen?
Drawing on photographic journeys to locations associated with reported sightings and unexplained events, The Visitors transforms ordinary landscapes into spaces of ambiguity and speculation. The familiar world becomes subtly unsettled, inviting viewers to question where reality ends and projection begins.
The project culminated in a conceptual artist's book that combines photography and printmaking techniques. Rather than documenting evidence, the work constructs a poetic narrative in which the search itself becomes more significant than any possible conclusion.
In 2021, The Visitors was awarded by Breedbeeld for Opus One '21 and participated in a group exhibition at the Concertgebouw Brugge as part of the Bruges Photo Festival. A selection of the work was subsequently published in the accompanying publication Breedbeeld, Opus One '21.
The Artist Book, the 'Outer Space' box
The Artist Book, the 'Outer Space' box
The Artist Book, the 'Stargaze' page
Monotype background page, insert printed on Japanese silk paper
Alien Virus - Cyanotype
The Visitor, Cyanotype
Duo-tone silkscreen print
The Artist Book with 'cryptonite' inside the box
2021-22 - Opus One '21, Concert Hall Bruges