The situation:
A courtyard surrounded by ten glass cases that are visible from the opposite prison cells
and from the joint sitting room. There is one more glass case in the connecting gallery.
Quote from the initial proposal:
'During our visit to the Zutphen youth prison I noticed that the kids spent most of their
time with their designated group of fellow inmates. During the day, they are basically
never alone. Only in the evening they go to their rooms and the door is locked behind them.
I think it would be exciting if that would be the time when something would happen in the
glass cases. I'm thinking of sculptures that light up, glow, something you can stare at in
the dark. A private discovery that you don't have to share with anyone else.'
The sculptures:
I created eleven small sculptures inside the glass cases. Despite the limited space they have
they appeal of a sculpture that you could walk round and that you could approach from various
different angles. I am using the space in the case as if it were an exhibition hall:
sculptures can hang, lie or stand in the cases.
Because there is glass all around the sculptures it is not possible to touch them. Still, I
want to make them seem very tactile. I emphasized a sense of intimacy, as I wanted to bring
the 'event' within the case closer to the spectator.
A lizard is growing our of a fingertip, a foot morphs into a landscape.
I used a special phosphorescent pigment that will glow for 13 hours. By daylight the
sculptures have an entirely different color than in the dark. |