Bent,

2020

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Developed during Dutch Invertuals Academy and part of the exhibition True Matter, by Dutch Invertuals.

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A structure of threads that - over time - morphs and transforms, as it responds and adapts to the environment in which it is placed. Differing temperatures interact with the structure’s materials and determine the rate of bending or ‘collapsing’. The transformation captures the direct environment in the structure’s physical shape, connecting its form and appearance to the circumstances in its environment and to time. In this way, the structure retrieves its own locality throughout its transformation.

 

In my process, I searched for movement in the seemingly static, exploring the contrast between stiffness and flexibility. These characteristics were found in the thermoplasticity of wax, which I use to set shape, playing with its temporary character. Different levels of tension are created by fixing and draping threads of diverse lengths and at various angles, allowing for a gradual transformation of the overall structure.

 

From an analytical approach of defining what truly matters, I was drawn to how time affects the way we look at things. We tend to use time as a parameter for comparison: How our time spent on earth compares to how long other things have existed, influences how we value these things. And even though the end of our lifetime is undisclosed, we tend to relate the importance of other things to our own expectancy of existence. By purposely providing my design with an undisclosed, temporal transformation, I attempt to exaggeratedly visualise a time of existence from beginning to end. I attempt to show the viewer how the unknown endpoint of the transformation affects how we perceive its current movement.

 

Exhibition True Matter by Dutch Invertuals Academy

Exhibition pictures by Ronald Smits