Ballooning a House
2019
in order to understand the world around us, people are inclined to create an overview. sorting and creating structures means a clearer view of a larger whole. if you were to look at the earth from space, you would see on a sphere (the earth) all square boxes in which people are living. these "boxes", houses are shaped by emotion. the British philosopher alain de botton claims that we do not live in the modern world, we only live in the modern world because we exist in it, but few of us choose to modernize their homes. de botton states that people prefer to have the latest gadgets, cars and clothing, and at the same time choose to nestle in shells of aesthetic nostalgia. according to de botton, creating a nostalgic living environment is an abject denial of reality.
on a piece of land in tiengemeten, which is regularly flooded, is a little house from the end of the 18th century. this home served as inspiration for ‘ballooning a house’. in this old house local workers used to spend the night when they could no longer reach the main land due to high water.
in the video installation "ballooning a house" a black sphere is gradually starting to grow like a giant black hole in this nostalgic home. we could percieve the growing sphere as a reference to the instopable power of nature, which confronts the human urge to organise and define. humans only seem to notice their human nullity when the world becomes dark at night. their focus then shifts from the earthly horizon to the infinity of the universe and reminds them of their place in the galaxy. with this audiovisual film projection, daems van remoortere invite the audience to shift their focus from the earthly horizon into the dark and to rethink our relation with natural forces as well as our definition of what we call ‘home’.
Powered by De Warande, De Studio, De Brakke grond, Wout Bosschaert, Raphael Den Dooven & Jan Machiels
Bookings by berserk art agency
