terra nullius et cetera et cetera.
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| The highest point of the Terra Incognita, et cetera mural in Centraal Museum, Utrecht, is about 360 cm from the floor. I started painting the blank dymaxion map on 11 October, and finished it on 13 October. |
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| The next day, on 14 October, we had press coming, and I also started taking care of other technical need of the work, like the grid projection. We decided to project the grid with a digital beamer which was hung from the ceiling. |
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The museum arranged for three volunteers to work with me as attendants. Fariborz Farid-Afshin, Rogier Brom and Laure-Anne Tillieux came a few hours before the opening on 15 October, and after my briefing, posed in front of the work for this photo.
We also did a bit of filming for the DIY video, with Fariborz, Rogier and Laure-Anne standing next to me. |
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| The stage was a bit shorter than the length of the mural, but at least it could cover the highest areas of the map. The museum also prepared a wireless mic and a speaker for me. |
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The grid, as planned, then was projected with a beamer that was hung from the ceiling. I found out that the easiest way to turn the beamer on with a remote control was to point the remote controller to the wall. Apparently the infrared signal would bounce out from the wall to the beamer in a perfect angle.
Daniel and I did a shot of me turning on the grid projection, for the DIY video. |
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| When the audience came, the attendants started to serve the flags and umbrellas to them. Fariborz told me there were a few interesting responses, including people thinking that they were serving Indonesian food. |
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| One of the first people to claim land was an old friend, Theo Geurts. Theo was an exchange student living at my parents’ house almost 20 years ago. It was really nice to have Theo in the audience. |
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| People kept claiming and claiming. I had a few nice conversations with them. |
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| At one point, the stage was so crowded, and someone from the museum came to me saying that she heard I need help. A lot of people were queueing and quite some actually gave up. I didn’t want assistance because I like direct conversations with the audience. |
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| The next day after the opening, on 16 October, I started working on finishing the installation. Early in the morning the stage was put away, and the technicians started to install the shelf for my props. I also started painting the colours of each region according to the colour of the corresponding flag or umbrella. |
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I kept working until I had to go on 19 October – finishing the mural, the installation, and the video. Quite a few museum visitors stopped by when I was working, and quite some of them actually asked to do the claiming game as well, so I played with them. On 17 October we had a bunch of school kids that were so happy to see an artwork they could interact with.
There were a few more countries added during this period. Someone asked politely whether he could claim a region for his friend. I agreed, and he claimed it: Nijland. He later sent me the photo he took of it. |
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| I finished the DIY video (Do it yourself: how to make a new world map) on the last day, and Hans Schopping the museum’s video technician converted it for their player. My installation was complete. |
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| There was no time to take a photograph of the details of the installation, so I asked Krijn, who is also exhibiting, and who lives in the Netherlands, to take some for me. He took some photos last weekend, and emailed them to me. |
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| Krijn’s claimed area is called Montenkrijn, after his name and Kathelijne’s (his partner) last name mixed together. |
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Terra Incognita, et cetera is being shown as part of Beyond the Dutch exhibition at Centraal Museum, Utrecht, the Netherlands. The exhibition is curated by Meta Knol and Enin Supriyanto, and is on until 10 January 2010.
Images courtesy of Fariborz Farid-Afshin, Rien Breteler, Jet Vermaning/Centraal Museum, Krijn Christiaansen, and Tintin Wulia. |
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