Timeless Experience.

Located along the Albert Canal outside Antwerp, Kanaal represents one of  Axel Vervoordt’s most ambitious long-term projects: the transformation of a nineteenth-century distillery and malting complex into a cultural, residential and artistic environment where architecture, landscape and artistic experience operate as a unified system. Conceived over several decades, Kanaal extends beyond the idea of a conventional development, constructing a place where art becomes embedded within everyday life and where historical structures coexist with contemporary interventions.  

As Axel Vervoordt describes:
“My taste is always defined by a search for harmony. I try only to make things interesting. I’m searching for the timeless. Between East and West. Between time periods. I want to search for the answer of where it all connects.”

The philosophy behind Kanaal unfolds through the relationship between materiality, silence, light and spatial rhythm. Developed in collaboration with architectural practices including Stéphane Beel, Coussée & Goris and Bogdan & Van Broeck, together with landscape architect Michel Desvigne, the site gradually evolved into a mixed environment of exhibition spaces, workshops, residences, galleries and gardens where architecture and nature become inseparable elements of the same experience.  

Commissioned to document the project, Daniel Schäfer Studio developed a photographic body of work exploring the relationship between architecture, atmosphere and artistic presence throughout the site. Rather than approaching Kanaal as a conventional architectural commission, the work focused on constructing a visual narrative capable of translating the spatial conditions that define Axel Vervoordt’s universe: contemplation, materiality, imperfection and attention.

Moving through industrial structures, exhibition spaces, interiors, landscape fragments and permanent installations by artists including Anish Kapoor, Marina Abramović, James Turrell, Tatsuo Miyajima and Kimsooja, the photographic work traces the relationship between contemporary art, industrial heritage and spatial experience over time.  

Beyond documentation, the work explores a broader question central to Kanaal itself: how architecture, art and landscape can create environments capable of generating attention, reflection and lived experience.

Our sincere thanks to Axel Vervoordt and the Kanaal team for opening the doors to a place where architecture, art and everyday life continuously intersect.

PROJECT INFORMATION
Commissioned by AD Spain.
Photography © Daniel Schäfer Studio
Project conceived and designed by Axel Vervoordt r.e.
In collaboration with Stéphane Beel, Coussée & Goris, Bogdan & Van Broeck, Tatsuro Miki.
Landscape by Michel Desvigne.

Kanaal · Antwerp · Belgium