Backside

‘Backside’ for Rotterdam december 2019.

Art installation initiated for the Neck of the Woods, the art intervention space in the Westewagenstraat in the centre of Rotterdam.

A young man is seen from the backside walking in black and white.

As he starts running, he slowly gains colour.

When he surrenders completely, he is in full color.

-Sound of the wind, a creaking boat and a gong..-

Man walking alone in the dark, empty and naked. Walking towards nothing with the sound of detachment. It is time for the male surrender.

The destructive male energy of roughly 3000 years is close to the finish, he is on a dead end street, a change is irreversible.

We are entering a different new collaboration in stead of the old pattern of destruction.

The location in Rotterdam was next to the famous shopping area called’ de koopgoot’. Which translates as ‘The shopping gutter’.

Thinking about the story of the emperors clothes, where the emperor thinks he is wearing the most beautiful clothes which suit him perfectly, but as it turns out he is completely naked, parading through the streets. A hoax set up by two- pretend to be tailor-men, but actually clever frauds. A little boy is the only honest one to shout out that the emperor is naked.

And the backside of the art space location in Rotterdam was set in a strange setting due to urban development after the second world war. The canal running in the back was supposed to connect the river Maas and the river Rotte. The back actually faced the front of Laurens church and is one of the last remaining area’s to be redeveloped.

The wooden sculpture is the male torso carrying two embryos. Made out of willow wood.

The mask is made of plaster with the image of a young faun.

A greek mythological god representing the god of the animals and fauna.

He is the consort of the great goddess Cybele, and also known as Pan.