Bregje de Heer lives and works in Middelburg. She designed three installations especially for De Kabinetten of De Vleeshal.
Photo(s): Leo van Kampen
Bregje de Heer’s scale model of over 9000 minute chairs, placed in a horseshoe (arena) formation, transformed the middle of De Vleeshal’s cabinets (De Kabinetten van De Vleeshal) into a theatrical space. The empty stands evoked a profound sense of abandon-ment, but also called large crowds to mind. A rectangular bench was set in front of the stands, which also served as the arena’s platform. Visitors taking a seat on this bench experienced the alienating effect of the difference in scale between themselves and the arena. Their sense of alienation was amplified by a constant switching of roles within the theatrical configuration: at one moment they were members of the public; the next, actors before an imaginary audience.
The installations in the two other cabinets has a more direct relationship with the architecture of De Kabinetten. In one cabinet a roof joist was mirrored on the ground. This intervention is typical of De Heer’s work: the forms she uses for her three-dimensional compositions may be stripped of their original function, but they continue to remind us of that function. Another example was the shape of the small window in one of the cabinets, which De Heer copied elsewhere in the space. It could just as easily have been a small bookcase as a reference to Donald Judd’s formal abstractions.
exhibitions
tags: bregje de heer
