INSTALLATIE 

“BERICHT AAN DE REIZIGERS”

 

THE ART INSTALLATION “THE MAGIC OF FLYING”

Window/façade project Apeldoorn “Message to the Travellers”

 In this installation you can see the interaction between a main office of a major building company and an apartment. In between there is the railway from Utrecht to Amsterdam.

On the roof of the building company is a form which symbolizes flying and within the form can be seen the contours of Icarus. During the day it is seen as a flying shape but in the darkness the silhouette of this mythical creature becomes clear. Like a beacon in the night or the ascension of Icarus flying too high. By the use of fluorescent paint and light this work can be seen from far away and it competes successfully with the surrounding commercial lights.

At the same time the projections on the façade of the building symbolize the coming and going of travellers as Icarus appears and goes. This is a sequence of static images appearing on the façade project by the technical Gobo image. The projector is computer driven and the building is backlit in many colours. By using blue or purple, Icarus is seen appearing and disappearing. As soon as the building is yellow Icarus is symbolically too close to the sun and he spirals downwards. For the model of Icarus for the projection is the artist’s own son who like the son of Daedalus received the special wings.

Behind the glass windows of the De Spade apartment hang banners with black bird forms. They look rather like the plastic bird deterrent signs found on everyday windows to protect the creatures from harm. The bird forms on the banners refer rather to freedom, mobility, speed and the distance which birds – not without risk – undertake during their migration. They portray the deep and meaningful longing of the human to fly and travel. The fall of Icarus is a clear warning against recklessness and over-confidence during travel.

Note: The story of Icarus comes from Greek mythology. Together with his father Daedalus he fled from the Labyrinth on Crete with the help of wings attached to his body with wax. Against the advice of his father not to fly too close to the sun, the young Icarus was careless and reckless; the wax from the wings began to melt and Icarus plummeted into the sea,  that sea became the Icarus Sea and today is known as the Aegean Sea.

  

                        

                    
“Ikaros”   screenprint on perspex