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In
1993 I get the opportunity to transform a neoclassical church in
Hoorn, which also functioned for a while as a meat factory before
Stichting de Achterstraat takes it over, into a house of
memory by working out installation Puzzled Windows. Main
goal of Stichting de Achterstraat is to provide sustenance
for visual artists who want to produce a site-specific work of
art. Site-specific in the sense, that the outcomes are directly
related to the exhibition space. Thus, the problem or the question
that underlies the work of art is raised in the interaction
between space and artist.
Is it possible to visualize memory traces of the church in Hoorn
in such a way that these tracks will trigger the memory traces of
the visitors in a meaningful way?
Intensively opening up in order to capture the
atmosphere and the various aspects of the space, this place of
worship is at the same time object of investigation and my
residence for the duration of the adventure: it is a dwelling
where I live, eat, work and sleep. After
having built a place to sleep at the choir, at first sight I
cannot make anything else of this worn out church than a
dilapidated house. The walls are covered with flaking paint and
the nine church windows are all boarded up: no light is coming in,
and there is no view on the world. Where is God? Proceeding from
the idea that religion is a form of faith that acts as some sort
of a spiritual or psychological defense mechanism, I decide to
transform this house of God into a house of Memory. The
notion of God is for me connected with transparency and
immaterial whiteness. Applying gauze curtains in front of each of
the windows, I try to call
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forth
some sort of stratification making this place at the same time
more intimate and more open. As a consequence, the installation
shows itself almost entirely composed of white shades. Moreover, I
change the perspective in such a way that the round high arched
windows are mirrored as cut-away in two large wooden tables
thereby looking like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. The two
puzzle-pieces are lifted to shoulder height and carry small
personal relics that complete the whole setting. For adults this
expansion in scale can evoke a memorable experience of the frame
of reference they had when they were about five years old.
Everybody will undoubtedly be able to recall the attempts to grab
something that is on the table and just beyond reach.
All edges of both tables are covered downward with transparent
white net curtain. The curtain is hanging only óne millimetre
above the floor and blue neon light is shining through. The whole
installation gives one the illusion of floating puzzle-pieces
every time a visitor moves the curtains merely by displacing the
air when he passes by. In this way an intimate, dreamy atmosphere
is created in the huge abandoned church. Because of the use of the
large quantity of white curtain, the flaked paint manifests itself
as organic wall painting, characterising time and circumstances.
The whole scene adds new perspectives at different levels,
provoking images that are old and at the same time new. From this,
the visitor, who can be an anonymous spectator but also the
artist, is encouraged to compose his own story based on a mixture
of memories, dreams and his involvement in the installation. |
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