Harco Rutgers - Part 56

Dementiestoel

Dementiestoel (Alzheimer Chair) is a visual representation of Alzheimer, translated into a chair. The chair misses a piece of vital information to function correctly, in this case a leg. It tries to cope (and initially deny) this loss, by fabricating alternate structures. Although the chair might think that his problem is now no longer visible to the outside world (and therefore fixed), it is clear to all healthy chairs that the new structure does not resemble the missing leg.

Dementiestoel is now on sale: 490 euro 100 euro.

Posted in Art, Design on July 28th, 1997 | No Comments »

Beth Gali workshop

In my post graduate year (interior) architecture at CHK Constantijn Huygens (art academy) in Kampen (1997), I attended a 9 day workshop by Beth Gali in Barcelona.

This also gave me a chance to experience Barcelona from a completely different, non-touristic point of view. Great city! I completed two architectural assignments at Beth Gali’s office and benefited from her insights while I was there.

This trip to Barcelona was also my first introduction to the work of Lebbeus Woods (found one of his books in a bookstore). His work felt like coming home to me. He succeeded in what I was trying to do with my mutating spaces.

Posted in Design, Other news on February 11th, 1997 | No Comments »

Academy exhibition 1996

Academy exhibition and graduation of my study interior architecture and furniture design at CHK Constantijn Huygens (art academy) in Kampen, 1996. A line of furniture based on my interpretation of the lyrics to a song by Nina Simone:

Images

She does not know her beauty
She thinks her brown body has no glory
If she could dance naked under palm trees
And see her image in the river
She would know
Yes, she would know
But there are no palm trees in the street
No palm trees in the street
And dishwater gives back no images

(1964) Nina Simone, Waring Cuney

I roughly interpreted the lyrics like this: Beauty only becomes apparent if the context is right. I applied this principle to found objects and materials that have no immediately apparent aesthetics in their daily context, by using them in their most original form to construct furniture, thus changing only the context. The challenge was to emphasise the beauty already present in these objects and materials, without altering their specific characteristics.

I made a new floor for my exhibition to visually divide the space into smaller compartments to achieve a better presentation of the different furniture pieces. In the center of the exhibition was a small elevated platform with a speaker hanging right above it, continuously playing the song that inspired the work.