Ephemeral Library I Lambda c-print, 155 x 108 cm, 80 x 115 cm edition 5 + 2 AP, each Ephemeral Library 2010-2018
Ephemeral Library is a series of photoworks focusing on the temporary nature of an incidentally developing ‘library’. Pictures of a collection of books, newspapers, magazines, advertising leaflets, handwritten letters, notes etcetera, together make up the images of the photoworks. In fact the ‘library’ merely exists at the moment the photograph is taken. The temporary and chaotic nature of the body of this tangible profusion of information makes it difficult to be deciphered or read. It seems as if it loses its initial meaning. The paper, with on the one hand the materiality of its sculptural character and on the other the immateriality of its content, plays a part in the work. Opposites such as individual/collective and anonymous/personal and the paradox of ‘beauty and poverty’ also play a part in the work. Several photoworks in the series refer to archetypal shapes such as the column/obelisk and the pyramid/mastaba. The photoworks furthermore emphasize the perishable nature of the complete overproduction of ‘sense and nonsense’ on paper. Upon closer consideration though, they also try to make the more general, collective store of images and memories visible, thus creating an interaction between the individual and the collective memory. Translation: Hanny Keulers
