Here: at the beginning, and at the end

In a multi-sensory experience, the audience inhabits a textile and tactile forest. Humans, trees, moss, and mushrooms are interconnected via an audio- and light installation that lies beneath their feet like a mycelial network. The forest is full of sounds and the light dances on the moss through the break-up of the leaves. Similar to the world of fungi, this space offers itself as an in-between. By bringing opposing magical elements together (happiness and grief, playfulness and solemnity, rooting and rising), the potion starts to fizz.

Visitors are invited into a white space by the mushroom character. The mushroom instructs you to take off your shoes, and pop on a pair of mushroom shoes. This brings attention down to your feet, making you aware of your connection to the earth.

By putting on these shoes, you become a material in the installation, a part of the forest.

When you have finished putting on your shoes, the mushroom draws the curtain open, inviting you into the forest, and says: "I will be here for you, at the beginning, and at the end."

When you step through the curtain, the space behind is initially pitch black, and you are dependent on your sense of touch to find your way. Maybe you already notice the smell of a damp forest floor, or of a fallen tree decomposing, or instead that of a breath of fresh air. As you carefully continue moving forward, the space lights up, revealing a mossy tufted rug on the floor, and quilted trees on the walls that surround you. Low drones and chittering animals sound through the forest. As you wonder, tip-toe, dance or crawl through, the forest responds to you: hidden underneath the rug lie pressure sensors, which cause the sound and light to change.

use your cursor to walk through the forest.png

Each homemade pressure sensor correlates to certain parameters of sound and light. As you move across the carpet and shift your weight between patches of moss, sound and light modulate and morph. Sometimes the forest has a straightforward reaction, sometimes it has more elusive ways. As you trigger the forest and its voice grows or lessens, you get a sense of agency. As its soundscape eludes you with subtle changes in timbres and rhythms, you tumble in deep listening. This leads you to question your influence, and to test its boundaries.

BASS

Orris butter 0,3gr

Hedione 6,3gr

Ethanol 62gr

BARITONE

Hay absolute 0,8gr

Coumarin 1gr

Ethanol 66gr

CONTRATOS

Oakmoss absolute 2gr

Civet synth 0,3gr

Blackcurrent bud absoute 1gr

Ethanol 72gr

THREE TENORS

Himalayan cedar 40gr

Cashmeran velvet 13gr

Clearwood 27gr

By bringing in scents, carriers of memory, I invite a trance of self. At the same time they mimic the ability of trees to communicate through scent. Within the space there are four different scents. Over time they amalgamate in the middle of the space and together form the smell of a forest, while still remaining distinct when walking along the individual trees. The scentscape allows the upper part of the body to indulge in the play of analysing these smells, while the interaction with the pressure sensors allows for grounding. They combine to create the mystery at the crossroads of your senses.

In November 2023, Here: at the beginning, and at the end was exhibited at gallery Factor IJ in Amsterdam. Especially for this event, I created a few more works to accompany the installation.

For this exhibition I wanted to make a small catalogue in which I could share a more information about and inspiration for the work. I did however, wanted this information to be an integral part of the installation. And so, I made a really, really, really, really big fabric book, which continues the childlike dimensions and playful essence of the installation through its materiality and size, accompanied by two mushroom stools.

Remember when you could still see the bottom of the table when looking up? When climbing the stairs required the use of both your arms and legs? Or when books were too big for you to hold?

Here: at the beginning, and at the end, is one part of a dyptych. The other part is a location theatrepiece and mime performance called Tussenwereld, which my sister and I made together. The exhibition and the theater performance approach the same theme from two different angles. On one hand, through the installation in the museum space, and on the other, through the performance in nature, we aim to explore how we can immerse our audience in the world of mycelium in different ways. The installation focuses on the bodily experience of the audience, while in the performance, a performer dressed in a mushroom costume acts as a translator for the underground mycelium network.