He Has Hidden
YEAR: 1998
CATALOG NUMBER: 127
PROVENANCE
Collection of the artist
NOTES
See No 118
EXHIBITIONS
Antwerp, M HKA, Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst Antwerpen
16 Installaties, 17 Apr 1998 — 23 Aug 1998 (as part of No 118, 16 Installations, Room 12)
DESCRIPTION
Beyond a wooden barrier along the wall stands a large crate, in front of it on the floor is soft bedding. One of the parts of the crate is empty, it is as though it is an entrance inside of the crate. The size of the crate is such that there is room for a short person to hide inside, should he so desire. To the left of the barrier is a stand with a text explaining who is sitting in this crate and why he has ‘hidden.’
The text tells about a situation, or more precisely, about the state of a person when he constantly hides from the surrounding world, when he does not show others his authentic self; who is subjected to, and submissive to the changing circumstances of life, its next ‘orders,’ but inside he remains forever ‘different,’ having fled into himself and living there permanently. He is doomed to utter for himself the same continual monologue, never heard by others.
The crate near the wall serves more as an intensifier, more as a material metaphor that has been ‘made public’ in order to increase the viewer’s understanding of the text and to detain him a bit longer near the work.
Images
Literature
