an in-between space with pale purple edges of soft Styrofoam

written by Lien van Leemput

There is a space right on the edge of our reality. An in-between place between dream and reality: it is up to each person to decide which way it leans. The space has pale purple edges of soft Styrofoam, pliable and manipulable. She carefully bends the edges, warps them, so the space is in constant flux. A dynamic has begun. 

Enter this space like a child, impartial and unbiased. With an open mind and open hands. Look, touch, listen, move. You are a visitor, you are welcome. The space is yours on loan. Take it in, wander around, wander off. She sketches the things in this place, but you as a visitor are free to use, to interpret or ignore these things. This is the start of a journey without beginning or end, for time does not exist here.

A scene unfolds, layer by layer. Colours, shapes and materials come together. A combination of elements. All is visible, tangible, palpable, can be peeled back and used. A mental act is set in motion. Relax, don’t expect anything, dive in. Pearls, hair, fabric, waves and folds. Royal orange, lilac, apple-blue-sea-green and pink. Colours make pathways through our minds. Immersion of the senses. Layer by layer she activates our imaginations. 

Spheres slowly rise up. She also lets herself be led by her own created and chosen elements. She goes in search of a reaction in an unconscious act of imagination. She questions her things: their shapes, their colours, their materials. How do they exist in the space? How do they communicate with each other? Do they need each other? You, the visitor, are guided on a radical trip. There is quiet confusion and surprise, but don’t be afraid, there is no panic here. 

Woods, necklaces, fans, mirrors. On impulse, everything flies towards each other. Things appear to change due to their position in the space and within their composition with other things. They come to life, augment each other and our experience of them. She captures shapes in the moment. Or is it the shapes that capture us? Or each other? Catching shapes with joy. 

Jewellery, membranes, puddles, circles, cloths. Ornaments, each with its own unique value. They excite us. Is this world not beautiful? Don’t be afraid of “beautiful”! Words are only a pale grey and ephemeral concept. And so manipulable. Beautiful is seductive and light-hearted, a positive approach, a fleeting smile. Nothing is right or wrong here. Hollow words in the eyes of things. She speaks the language of things. A game without rules, only feelings. It is the power of attraction between things that determines everything, it has its own laws.

She shapes things according to their mood. “Thing” is, once again, a beautiful word, the perfect description of the here and now. Amorphous and undaunted and reckless. Things as particles in an unfathomable whole. Gently, we become a part of the setting. Visitors that we are, we intuitively work with the elements and thus form our own reality. Maybe as a visitor I am also a thing? 

The things dress themselves, glitter floats in the air. Gravity makes hard and soft materials merge to form a new entity. This reality is a visual feast, step into it, free yourself of thoughts and perceptions. Touch, grasp, laugh.

Is this a new reality or part of an existing one? Or doesn’t it matter? Do we still need to think? Or is thinking redundant in this world? Questions are resolved in circles of beige foam. Pastel yellow sends our thoughts in a different direction. Characters in a world of total freedom. They take care of us and she takes care of them. The things travel through this space. Are they ever finished? Complete? Complete as an abstract concept that does not need to be tangible. Everything can be used in the capacity in which it exists. Functions are potential, ambiguous and mellifluous. 

And then suddenly: a bed of clouds and grass to lie down on. A smile floats through the space and softens us. Fabrics surround our bodies and let themselves be touched. A letter warps and turns into a soft sound. 

There are observations that are recognizable to every visitor. A universal reality of which we are an inseparable part is playing out all around us. Such an ingrown part that we no longer consciously perceive our own presence. This is why she has opened the door to a mental and personal reality that we all carry within us but that needs to be activated. An intuitive reality that borders on the unconscious. Interpret the elements as signals and be prepared to expose what is, or could be, different. She gives us the opportunity to build a bridge and create balance between the two worlds that every visitor carries inside them. 

Dare to step delicately into a fluorescent pink puddle. There are no more boundaries to look for. The puddle spreads over the entire space. Bodies move through it. No more distinction between bodies and things. All is soft and fluid. A piece of cloth is offered. She looks up.

She gives the visitor time, space, silence, possibilities. Nothing is imposed. As a visitor, you also unconsciously give back to things. There is irreversible contact. A slight sense of disorientation arrives. Everything surrounds you, you surround the things.

Surrender in the middle of a blanket. We let ourselves fall and break free of our daily descript and nondescript activities. She makes the space beautiful, so beautiful that even the space itself feels comfortable here. Things feel at home. Things tell a story in an imaginary language. Colours and shapes do the talking. Be open to understanding this language. She calls things what they are. Small and subtle acts depicted in threads on a piece of fabric, beads on a chain, folds in a cloth. 

This is the place; no other place is necessary. Not then, not later, just now. The endlessness of this limbo makes us want to stay, forever, even though eternity doesn’t exist here. Only the moment. A precious moment of awareness and contemplation that she has created for you, together with the things, their elements and the space in which they find themselves. 

A great vessel filled with freedom, accessibility, caring, timelessness, openness, beauty, intimacy. But without words. Just let the words go, scatter them like glitter over the things. They will go their own way. She ascends in the space and remains unbelievably beautiful and unknown. 

— pause —