RECONSTRUCTION I
We look at a stately mansion from the early nineteenth century.
The interior shows the influence of science and the spirit of discovery on the daily life of the bourgeoisie. A glimpse of the modern mindset. A citizen of the world.
A period when the industrial and material world was presented as an ideal at the first World's Fairs. They ushered in the industrial revolution and demonstrated advanced technology to the world community. It was not just a presentation of possibilities; it was a vision of the future.
As Russian writer Fyodor Dostoevsky realised during his stay in London in 1862, where the Great Exhibition took place, what he saw there was of world-historical importance. ‘You become aware of an enormous idea,’ he wrote after visiting the exhibition, which showed an exuberant material culture.
Also as a warning: ‘You feel that it takes great, eternal denial and luck not to surrender, not to capitulate to what you see, not to bow to what is, not to accept the material world as your ideal.’
The remains of the mansion are only visible. It has been carefully rebuilt, as if it were an archaeological find. There are literally gaps to be filled, information missing. To make it comprehensible, it must be situated in a context that has been deliberately constructed.
The reconstruction is enclosed by a building. The style and features from the industrial revolution, such as the cast-iron frame with glass, are no longer new and exciting, but tried-and-tested construction methods. The space seems designed specifically for the reconstruction. To exhibit, to study.
However, this building is flawed and has fallen into disrepair. A glimpse of a newer era is visible through the glass ceiling, indicating that this era is also part of the past and needs to be re-examined. This suggests that missing links can be discovered and a new understanding of this era can be achieved.
A cyclical repetition like matryoshkas fitting together. (It is noteworthy that matryoshka nesting dolls were first exhibited at the 1900 World's Fair in Paris.)
History is constantly revisited from the shifting ‘now’ with an eye to the future. A vision within which art translates our world as a shifting living story.