16 Get in Touch
02 04 > 04 06 2020
Danièle Knirim, Loes Schepens
What was one of the most normal things, touch, suddenly became strange, during the pandemic. There was a desire for each other’s attention and the abnormal became normal.
Now, after two years of distance we may be closer again, we may begin to intertwine with each other again. But perhaps we falter now, as we figure out again what the relationships are like. Where the boundaries were first clearly visible, they are now shadowy and we are trying to rediscover them. Interweaving and touching can even feel tense and sometimes like a struggle.
How the hostile conditions in the world are now palpable adds another layer: Now that we can enrich ourselves again with art and culture, with going out and dancing, is it okay to enjoy that? When you know that so near people are living in fear and losing what they love overnight.
Danièle Knirim does not have the answer to this, she is also wavering in it. With her work in the exhibition “Get in touch” she wants to show her hope. That although it feels strange and awkward, we do do the difficult interweaving together.
Most people want to touch the paper wall objects by Loes Schepens. The material it is made of raises questions and is apparently ‘attractive’. That the artwork is actually paper, and how strong, colourful and transparent it is, is where the surprise comes in. Most likely it also has to do with the fact that it is made of pure natural material and that it does something to us, as humans. Feeling becomes an emotional act, the tactility touches us. The contact with a material, derived from nature, evokes a shimmer, a memory or some other primal feeling. After all, we are still mammals, part of that universal nature. And there arises a palpable recognition, and we can hold on to that in difficult times.