Enfin unis, instruits et libres

In 2007 in the Gallery Stela Lohaus in Antwerp, Vergara displayed an edited montage of a recorded performance he had organized two years earlier in the Hallen van Schaarbeek in Brussels, and where the audience was allowed to put on dog costumes. People crawl around on the floor, dressed up as animals, amidst dogs who are also walking around. White sheets of paper are lying on the floor. The images have been edited. Contours copied from the video recording come to a stop, others progress according to what is happening on the recording itself. Sometimes the image fades away completely and only the contours of figures and the setting are visible. The title of the installation ironically refers to topics which crop up repeatedly in Vergara’s work: the artist’s freedom and his role as an involved spectator of society. The fact that he continues to copy reality, however grotesque that may be, embodies the artist’s desire to capture that reality in all its aspects.