Installation in PuntWG, Amsterdam

21 to 30 October 2011

In a dream I see a model in the middle of an indeterminate wasteland. From the outside, the model looks messy, like an abandoned building that has been under construction for years. But inside is a different world. Everything is homely and comfortable there. The walls are papered, the rooms furnished and the windows offer familiar views, just as everyone likes it.

Within these walls, the wasteland is at a safe distance and one can understand each other. Then you know where you are, what time it is and what you have done or will do in life. And so you usually forget that there is still an "outside". Yes at night, then you float out in your dreams. Or you are at risk because sometimes you don't understand anything about life. But those are just moments, who takes that seriously? As long as you stay inside, the model is full-screen, a universe in itself. You are at home there, like a child in a nursery, far from the roughness around it.

Jeroen Kee and BarBara Hanlo

mede mogelijk gemaakt door: Stadsdeel Amsterdam West

inside - The installation could only be viewed in the dark at night. The doors to the room had been opened wide to allow the damp autumn air to enter. In the twilight dark room was a large dark pond. The water ran from wall to wall and disappeared under hanging sheets at the back. The depth of the water could not be estimated by the dark bottom. The only illumination came from two table lamps hanging directly above the water and from indirect incoming lantern light from outside.
On the middle sheet was a projection of a portrait of a young man who seemed to float above the water. Sometimes he had his eyes open for a moment and looked at the visitors, then dreamed away and closed his eyes.
A model of the exhibition space, located on an island modeled on the adjacent park, floated to the right in the water.
On the left stood against the wall, in the water a collection of shelves, cupboards and tables found on the street. It gave a slightly chaotic impression, as if a flood had occurred.
There was a light movement in the dark water, causing the island to move slowly and an autumn leaf to float by. An almost invisible fan occasionally rustled the paper strips from the model.
The whole resulted in a tranquil atmosphere that visitors could let in from a plank scaffold. Reactions ranged from experiencing a poetic calm, from a dream to associations with an indefinable threat.

outside - As it penetrated the outside, the 'inside', the 'homeliness', was brought out into the park. An upside-down world. Using furniture found nearby and other discarded materials, three seats were arranged, complete with televisions and table lamps. But of course it was only a meager domesticity and it was more of a nomadic affair.
The televisions featured illuminated windows filmed from the outside, giving a glimpse of life inside. A tacit invitation to visitors to look around the many illuminated windows of the houses around the park.
A few meters from the entrance, a modest fire burned in a fire bowl where visitors could warm themselves.
 

made possible by: Amsterdam Township District West