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1 Description
Voorstelling by Suchan Kinoshita is an installation that incorporates audiovisual material and a performance. This work was created in 1997 during the Entr’act 9 exhibition at the Van Abbe Museum (February 21 – April 13, 1997, Eindhoven) and presented as “a score for a room”. “Voorstelling” is a Dutch word that means literally “the placing of something (‘stellen’) in front (‘voor’)” The multidisciplinary aspect of Suchan’s production is evident in this work. Voorstelling is an act, a “theatrical” installation in which music and theatre interact along with other disciplines. Sounds, images and words are the elements in which the scenes unfold, following time and movements stressed by the single actions and the use of the objects displayed. A good number of them – along with the materials utilized – are characteristic of the artist’s production (hourglass, PUR foam, dust flock, etc.).
The installation consists of two spaces divided from one another by a wall. An opening (window) was made in this wall to enable the visitors to see what is going on in the other room – or space. Each room has an independent and unrestricted entrance via a door. There is a small space between the rooms, which is used during the performance.
1. Room A, for the benches, where the visitors can sit.
2. Room B, working area. Here is where the objects are located and the performance takes place.
3. Space C, between the rooms.
The dimensions of the construction change in accordance with the exhibition space.
The objects can be moved during the performance.
The performer’s action takes place in Room B, the working area. The performer’s room is filled with a great variety of objects, both large and small. The objects recreate a familiar, kind of domestic environment. The performer acts among and with them. He uses the objects in a programmed way. The changes that take place are never fortuitous, but follow a “score”.
Voorstelling evokes the idea and space of a play, but it is truly something different. A play has a beginning and an end. The spectators come and watch the play to the end, always sitting (or standing) in the same position, and then go. In Voorstelling everything works differently. The performance does not have a fixed length. It depends on the card game on which it is based. Once finished, it can start over and over again. The whole exhibition is a carrousel, and the beginning can fall together with the end.
It is worth noting that Voorstelling is not only about sitting and watching a performance. The title only suggests this. When seated, the spectator sees what is going on in front of him: the objects that revolve and pass out of view, and the performer who is acting inside the room.
The image is never the same. It is always changing, revolving and taking on different shapes. But even this great variety will not be complete unless it is viewed from both sides of the wall dividing the entire scene into two rooms. All of this can happen in either of the two places. The spectator can also enter the room in which the action is taking place. He can walk around in the room and feel the space. This can be done even when the performer is not there. When the performance is not taking place, the performer sets up (in advance) a ”still” with the objects, which the spectator can observe.
The space and the objects still exist, even if they are not playing. The way of looking at them and feeling them changes, but the installation lives on. There are two different phases in the artwork: playing and not playing. Both phases are essential and, together, they comprise the artwork as a whole.
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