Karin van Dam
RITE OF PASSACE
Karin van Dam is an artist who creates
space that is only partially visible. This
mirrors the multi-layered world of the
city. Beneath the pavement there is a mul
titude of conduits connecting everything,
enabling us to live comfortably. Above this
is the domain of houses, which tempo
rarily offer the inhabitants a home, and
where lives unfurl behind the fafades.
And above this all, is the eternal sky.
In her work Karin van Dam breaks
through the barriers of the visible and
invisible, between above and below
ground. Also between earth and sky, as in
Observatorium Observatorium (hemelsleu-
tel/sedum telephium). The site where she
installed Observatorium is a significant
location in Middelburg; the abbey garden
is a manifestation of the medieval idea
that a cloister symbolizes the perfect
creation. Four identical sides enclosing
a garden; the earthly existence and an
imagined paradise in an ideal embrace.
The eternity of the sky reigns supreme
above the abbey garden. The work of
Karin van Dam unfolds between the
world we live in and the freedom of the
skies. 'I am a sculptor who confronts
gravity. I prefer space to earth. The sig
nificance of things I use in my work is
changed by space.'
Van Dam's sculptures could be called
nomadic. They rise above the earth, on
their way to somewhere, and emphasize
temporality. The construction of scaf
folding-tubes, crowned by a steel dome,
resembles a tipi that is easily transport
able. Because of its light-heartedness,
the tipi opens up this solemn place that
seems to carry the weight of ages. The
scaffolding-tubes keeping this fleeting
construction in place accentuate the idea
of temporality. They hold something
down, which in fact wants to move on.
The fenders also belong to the image
ry of a nomadic existence. They transform
the tent into a zeppelin that very momen
tarily docks at its destination. The fenders
are strikingly white. It creates a surreal
disparity in which the forms look like
brittle porcelain, while in fact they have
the power to softly cushion the collision
of two masses. Extremes touch in a natu
ral way in the statues of Karin van Dam.
Volume and the suggestion of weight are
connected to a soft touch, and a buoyancy
that escapes gravity. Sturdiness and sensi
tivity are two sides of the same image.
She renders the idea of migration
visible; that movement between the
seclusion of the earth and the openness
of the sky. This is the changing space of
the city. A world which is at the same
time visible and invisible. A world which
opens up energetically and then protec
tively closes. Karin van Dam sees the city
in a never-ending process of growth; an
organism that comes and goes. A rite
of passage. With special thanks to Van de
Gruiter bv.
www.karinvandam.com
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