A solo show at Rotterdam’s former Cult Creche.
- A vase’s space
If the idea of living is residing amongst things of our choosing, then the flower vase comes off rather poorly, considering that it is being put on hold to perform its function for most of its lifecycle. You never know when you’ll need it, so you store it. It sits in a closed cupboard, shut off form everyday life – an empty holding space. When taken out on occasion, after being held under the tab to be cleaned from the dust it has collected, water gets poured into it, and the vase’s space is finally filled again. Then the flowers come in! It is only at this moment, that we become aware of the vase’s holding nature. This is when the vase is most present in its vase-being, and yet it is by far the star of the show.
The flowers, the smaller ones being centered around the largest among them, form a real masterpiece of decoration: the table’s centerpiece. Even though they’re dead, they lighten up the living room. But now that they have finite resources, the joy they bring is running down the clock. The tripping point between being ornaments of life or death marks their definite ending. Along comes the end of the flower vase’s exercise. It gets rinsed, wiped, and stored away in its familiar place of residence, to remain untouched for a very long time. Here at once, reduced to a mis-used and unfulfilled object.
