↑↑ THIS SIDE UP ↑↑
60x155x5 cm
2022
Neon on frame
↑↑ THIS SIDE UP ↑↑ is a mirror of society that makes us look at ourselves and the relationship we have with others and our environment. This playful and meaningful installation focuses on themes as standardization and limitations we impose on our natural environment and on ourselves.
While the theme of vanitas has been gratefully addressed in visual art for centuries, in the Western world many people have lost the ability to deal with uncertainties and fragility. In order to direct, control and shape people and the environment, mankind tries to eliminate risk by imposing all kinds of limits and norms.
In Western society, the realization that we are fragile and impermanent is hard to accept. Albert Camus argued that “man is the only creature that refuses to be what he is, mortal.” Man is seen as rational, autonomous and independent, but is in fact also mortal, imperfect and dependent.
What we have seen in recent decades is that our society is dominated by fear, fear of uncertainties, which amounts to fear of fragility, and that is exactly what ↑↑ THIS SIDE UP ↑↑ is all about.