ART by Jonas Vansteenkiste
Publication date: 09.09.2026
Jonas Vansteenkiste (1984) is a visual artist and curator who develops a multidisciplinary practice in which architecture and psychology converge. His work, ranging from installation and sculpture to video, photography and drawing, investigates how spaces function as mental constructions.
He studied at KASK Ghent (Bachelor in New Media, Master in Media Art) and completed an additional research year at Sint Lucas Antwerp. Since 2024, he has been Head of the Ceramics Department at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy. Vansteenkiste lives and works in Amsterdam and Kortrijk.
Central to his practice is the notion of mental space: an environment shaped by architectural elements in which perception, memory and emotion are structured. Drawing from personal experiences, he distils the anecdotal into underlying frameworks, allowing his installations to function as spaces for thought in which the viewer is actively positioned, both physically and mentally. Architecture and themes of house and home play a key role throughout his work.
Recent exhibitions include Coup de Théâtre. A Play of Clay at ABBY Kortrijk and Sottobosco at Museum Dr. Guislain (2026), as well as Cities and Eyes at Fridman Gallery in New York City and lumen in Berlin (2025).
For ARCHITECT@WORK Rotterdam, two works were selected that are exemplary of Jonas Vansteenkiste’s oeuvre.
In House Cluster #1, the artist departs from the recognizable form of a house without depicting a specific house. The wooden construction is composed of simple geometric shapes and encloses an empty space. The work invites reflection on dwelling, memory, and the meaning we assign to places.
At the same time, it refers to the tradition of the masterwork: the piece with which a craftsman once had to demonstrate his skill in order to establish himself as an independent master. By repeating, abstracting, and simplifying the form of the house, its self-evident meaning is released. This creates space for the viewer to connect their own memories, feelings, and associations to the work. In this way, House Cluster #1 moves at the intersection of craft and art, reality and imagination.
In A House Is Not a Home (Housetrap), Jonas Vansteenkiste explores the tension between the ideal image of a house and its reality. The house appears as a place of safety, shelter, and longing, yet is simultaneously presented as a trap that can confine us within our own expectations and dreams of perfect living. The artist shows how the image of the “ideal house” is culturally constructed and does not necessarily coincide with what a home truly means.
The work presents the house as an ambiguous symbol: a place that offers protection and identity, but that can also bind us to societal expectations and personal desires. It refers to a cultural ideal we aspire to meet, while that same ideal may also limit us.
Ultimately, Vansteenkiste leaves open the question of whether we can ever fully feel at home in the ideal image we create ourselves.
