Dionysia

Dionysia
2010
Installation with sculptural and video elements
-Field, Wall 400x450x50 cm, Field 400x500cm,
Silicon molded and hand painted plaster replicas of 25 basketballs,
taped field, iron b.ball rig,
-Hanging 4 channel video display with 23”W TFT Color LCD screens in cone shaped steel display (120x120x60 cm pointed slightly angled towards all 4 directions), HD players
I like to use the term “unfolding” when I talk about my artistic practice because it refers to the process in witch a concept or a form becomes visible in most of its visual and conceptual elements. The installation Dionysia developed out of the same working method. I wanted to unfold a whole basketball match into sculptural elements. The different aspects of the ceremony were dismantled and formed a new spatial set up that disrupted the foreseeable patterns of the game. I was using video displays, sculptural elements, tapings and objects in the realization.
The work title “Dionysia” derives from an ancient religious festival in honor of the god Dionysus, the central event of which was the performance of tragedies and comedies.
The work certainly inhabits both aspects of performance in the sense of the hilarious destruction of rather beautiful sculptures. It also commends on the western conception of time, which is highly dramatic in the Greek sense of movement (dramatic movement).
There is a point of origin; there is progress, linear or even exponential, there is crisis and finally catharsis or fall. Creation and destruction as we observe in the playful learning process of children stays a dormant aspect of human character. A lot of temporary problems are coursed by an excuse to unleash the negative side in the name of competition. Heaven or hell-win or fail. I liked the way that this existed as complete picture after the big event was over. The hanging display shows a 3 min. loop of a basketball game. The balls having been used were authentic looking hollow balls of painted plaster that crashed during a game in which five players performed. Four HD cameras have recorded the happening from different angels.