REFLECTIONS
A site-specific installation in the former studio and house of Arnold van de Laar (1886-1974). This work is part of the artproject KOPIE.
The installation Reflections is part of the project copy. In the former house and studio of artist Arnold van de laar – famous for his copies of masterworks in the early 20th century – I created an intimate audio-tour and mirror objects.
Time has stood still since Arnold van de Laar let the house to his three daughters, who remained there their whole lives. Two of them, as well as his grandson, even kept working in his studios. All those years, hardly anything has changed or moved.
In the audio-tour, a soft voice guides the audience members one by one though several rooms in the house. The narration, told from the perspective of one of Van de laar’s daughters, problematizes the relation between his personal life and his talent for copying. All the while, fact and fiction become hard to tell apart.
By blurring the boundary between fact and fiction in this work, I’m challenging our collective capacity for interpretation. What is factually true and what is made-up? And, more importantly, does it matter? In the end, don’t we all see and hear the stories that most conveniently suit our own?
