Softer Catwalk in Collapsing Rooms
1999
Installation
Materials:
Collection: De Vleeshal Collection, Middelburg (The Netherlands) (Inv. no. VH0284).
The relationship between image and architecture is central to Softer Catwalk in Collapsing Rooms. For this work, for the first time, Mik made use of a transparent screen, that has been incorporated into a curved wall. The projection literally becomes part of the architecture. Conversely, architecture plays a leading role in the video. A building collapses little by little and is transformed into ruins. Among the rubble, people search imperturbably from room to room. They don’t seem to notice their surroundings, nor each other. The figures in Mik’s work are quasi-mechanical and absent. They wander aimlessly without any form of communication. The alienating and surreal worlds Mik directs serve as a mirror for the absurdity of everyday reality, questioning what is considered normal and abnormal human behaviour.