Paradox of intimacy

​​ 2014

Group show De VROM Den Haag “35titles” – pre-end exam exhibition

 

 

 

The work consists of a five meter high tower on the first, open, balcony-like floor in the entrance hall of the VROM building, a former government building. The tower peaks in a platform with two performers on it. Because of its location and dimension, the work is distant from the audience, but three binoculars throughout the building allow the viewers to closely observe the performance: the two performers are in a quiet dialogue and constant physical contact with each other with limited movement.

 

With this installation, I wanted to express different relationships and encounters through the play with distance and proximity. The work consists of three dimensions: one deals with the isolation of the performance and their performers, created by the vast distance between them and the audience. Another is the invasion of the performers’ privacy and intimacy by the observer, the voyeur. The third dimension is constituted by the performers’ exclusiveness, created by both their physical superiority in their high-up refuge and what they share there, something that the audience can only watch and guess but will never become part of.