Man op pilaar (Man on pillar)
June 2017
Performative intervention
(pillar, cart, ladder, man)
(film stills)
A plea for doing nothing
This work is a performative intervention in public space, inspired by Simon the Stylite. The work consist of a four meter high pillar, made of wood and plaster, that can slide in and out and be transported. The work takes place at times detached from clock-time and at various locations in the city.
The work looks critically at a society where being busy seems to be a status symbol, and where we have forgotten how to do nothing. It is a protest against always being busy and against the ticking of the clock that seems to rule our culture.
This plea encourages moments of doing nothing at all amid all the haste, and gives time and space for thinking.
The work is a continuation of a sequence of work in which I work with seclusion and reflects on western society.
Filmed by Natasha Rijkhoff