| This is the business
we've chosen
Year: 2007
Assigned by: Agorafolly, Europalia, Brussel, Be
Dimensions: 567 x 742 x 940 cm
Materials: PVC, metal, wood
With help from: Ulrik Holme Kristensen
Support: The Netherlands foundation for visual arts, design and architecture,
Hovuma Magazijnstellingen, Reuver
Cultuurfestival Europalia
The specific qualities of Square Breughel echo in this installation. The square is a place for repose on café terraces but people also hurry through it on their way to work at the law courts above. In a matter of seconds, you can leave the square by means of a glass-sided lift that takes you to the upper city from where you have a breathtaking view of Brussels. I installed two eight-metre high shelving structures, like those used by industry for storage. The first shelf starts at a height of three metres so people can walk underneath. The shelves are filled with enormous, brightly coloured objects. These objects are reproductions of graphical elements from popular TV game shows from several countries all over Europe. Tv game show elements are quite trivial objects, being seen everyday on national tv, and therefor carrying a huge amount of national identity. I mixed up pronounced characteristics of these objects and stripped them of words and numbers. As a result only form and colour remain. Depending on where you stand, you can view the collection as a whole (the lowest point of the square). Travelling to the highest point in the lift, the objects reveal themselves in quick succession on a different scale.
: Erwin van Amstel
|