Published on: De School
No Better Time Than Now
Time flies when you enjoy yourself. Which probably is one of the reasons why the last eleven months gone by so swiftly. Stories have been told about the still-wet color on the dancefloor’s walls during the opening days in January. These days you already find little scribblings, messages and codes all over the place. The former school building now inhabits a new community that is shaping its own identity. An identity defined by optimism, togetherness and diversity. The diversity will once again be extra-prominent in December when the building will be in full swing, showing diverse art in diverse rooms for diverse people.
Three artists will be exhibiting their works during the whole month. Charlotte Dumas will show her video piece Work Horse in Het Kunstlokaal. In addition, two other videos, Golden and White Silence by Misha de Ridder, will be on view in De Cinema. Completing the triumvirate will be Marjolein Blom whose photography project Double Slit Experiment will be shown in the hallway and wardrobe. Diverse works in its visual manifestation, but tied together by shared ideas and a comparable appeal.
Misha de Ridder’s HD videos show subarctic Norway in winter’s tight grip. Subtle shifts in light and almost monochrome color palettes demand attention and endurance while landscapes reveal themselves after a snowstorm and the sun sinks. A comparison can be made between the shown videos and the building they are presented in: in both, passing time plays a pivotal role. Passing time and the changes that come with it, which may not be all big or flashy, but add up to making a very visible difference in the overall picture.
Marjolein Blom presents no pictures in motion, but steady ones that also survey time-related questions. Only in a more abstract way. Double Slit Experiment from 2014 deals with the (im-)possibility of time travel and all its surrounding paradoxes. A poetic examination of an ever fascinating idea that leaves you enrichened with ideas and images in your head. And even though people cannot time travel physically, Marjolein Blom’s work sparks the thought of thinking about the dancefloor as a time machine: go downstairs and you will maybe hear a track that is 30 years old, functioning as a wormhole between then and now. Or you will hear a track that is connected to a certain memory, one that is able to let you travel back in time just for a while and just in your own head. Blom will also showcase a new project of hers entitled (Anti)matter, which explores the different theories on vacuum by examining elementary particles - for instance Paul Dirac’s theorie on matter and anti-matter.
Charlotte Dumas’ piece Work Horse from 2015 confronts the viewer with two protagonists: Tarsan and Tarmo, two horses that call the woods somewhere in the North of Sweden their home. Their life is defined by a single purpose: pulling logs from the forest, sacrificing themselves to this mantra as a well-tuned team. Seeing Tarsan and Tarmo following their occupation in harmony possesses a tenderness and serenity that, now that it is too cold for beatless music in the garden, emulates all its qualities still. The shown art is electronic listening music manifested in visual matter.
In all its diversity, the shown works are united in one thing though: they are extensions of the outer world into the club. Vice versa, they open the perspective from the protected environment of De School to the world. After a hectic and eventful year, December is the time to unwind, reflect and contemplate. The presented art possesses the quality to help with this task. While looking at the works in De Cinema, Het Kunstlokaal and in between, you also look at yourself.