Temporal Illusions. How James Holmes Went From Shy Nerd To Accused Cold-Blooded Killer? 2013
Installation of three diorama’s boxes suspended from the ceiling, soundtrack and staged photos. Painted MDF, metal, door pepe-hole lenses, plasticine, papier-mâché, wood, glass and textile. Soundtrack: 9 minutes, dimension boxes: 50x45x50/ 50x48x26.5 / 50x 26.5×26.5 cm
When I saw the newspaper photos of the mass-murderer James Holmes sitting in court, July 2012, I felt recognition and empathy. This feeling both frightened and fascinated me. Shouldn’t I feel repulsion? Could I fall in love with such a horrific person? I started to read articles about Holmes’s background: where did he grow up? Who were his parents? It inspired me to write a personal story – a mixture of autobiography and fantasy, fact and fiction. Later on, the story also became part of the installation. Listen to the full story online.
Habeas Corpus 2009
Pleader’s Prayer 2008 – 2009 Mixed-media installation: painted wooden furniture, papier-mâché, wax, pigment, metal wire, animations (colour, loop, no sound) and sound: a poem (set to music) by Hannah Senesh: Eli, Eli, (my God, My God) sung by a Dutch man. Dimensions structure: 300 X 160 X 120 cm (HxBxL). Equipment: 7 TV’s 37cm, 7 DVD’s, 1 CD player, 1 car speaker.
Pleader’s Prayer was inspired by the allegorical medieval paintings of the Last Judgement and of the Virgin of Mercy. It was developed as a metaphor for contemporary social and political reality, with an emphasis on topics such as immigration, xenophobia, cultural alienation and anxiety. The installation also examines how these socio-political issues influence the private domain, for example the relationship between man and woman. Politicians in the Netherlands involved in major disputes regarding immigration and integration, are portrayed in the animations in the Pleader’s Prayer (Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Geert Wilders, Pim Fortuyn and Rita Verdonk). Towering above them all, not Jesus, but a layer, a pleader singing a prayer, defending humanity despite its evil nature.
- Leben? Oder Theater? 2004
- Leben? Oder Theater? 2004
- Leben? Oder Theater? 2004
- Leben? Oder Theater? 2004