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Artist Statement for Godelieve Smulders
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The Incredible Weight of Lightness
Vision
I am searching for the universal essence, the pure core of life. That core that very young children radiate, a happiness before becoming tarnished by social class and the imperfections of existence. I seek a union of body and spirit, with the notions of joy, freedom, communication and lightness.
My second quest is that Art be inclusive, available for a larger public. It’s a necessity to also operate at the bedrock of society so that everyone is invited to participate. Universal essence can only be found in universal inclusiveness.
Furthermore, I believe that art must claim its inclusiveness in the contemporary communication-technology world we all share. This is why I am using state of the art, avant-garde technological solutions to convey the images via the Internet. This, in combination with the originality of the structural design, ensures that the physical public spaces, as well as the virtual public space become filled. It is a playful manner to help bridge the tremendous digital gap in the world.
I prefer monumental forms, allowing experiences to be enhanced from the inside, as well as outside of the sculptures. Six meters (18ft) – three times the human measure – uplifts visitors and transforms itself to become a meeting place.
Representation of the vision
In my earlier works, as monumental sculptor, I trustfully used other techniques, and used the same vision and perspective that ‘lightness gives weight’. It had to do with monumental classical forms of light transitory material such as straw or branches of living trees. Also the use of the right light materials, willow branches for the imagery of flowing water, gave weight by casting them in bronze.
In search of paramount lightness I developed a new representation the last few years.
You can catch a glimmer of the pure core in adults when they are in love, or laugh, among others. That is why I represent this universal core with diverse laughter projects. Laughter is universal, the primary language of all humans. Laughter is a primal tool that binds people together. This is why laughter is so contagious. It is communication at an instinctive level, personally unified and socially unified. Laughter is, ecstatic, fleeting and freeing. It is extremely light, but has a big impact. It’s a relaxed feeling like being in touch with your core; like coming home.
The lightness of laughter should not be confused with superficiality or frivolity. I have dedicated myself to bridging the ancestral language barriers between the first form of human communication, laughter, with the most recent form of human communication, cyber.
Because the universal character of laughter, I see the whole world as my work domain. I don’t aim for any Western celebration or focus on local plights, but a global presentation of this universal value. To represent humans at their most beautiful and strong. It’s precisely because of the large-scale awakening, presenting and circulating of laughter, that I want to allow the essential unity, the bonds among all cultures, to be seen. My worldwide work floor for laughter, the e-l@ugh project, consists of a network of public places such as stations, airports and museums.
How will this vision be represented in the work?
For 4 years, I have been giving gestalt to laughter in two worldwide projects.
1. The World Laughter Monument, an audio sculpture.
At the precise moment of the new millennium, at midnight, laughter was recorded worldwide in each time zone and transmitted to the Paradiso in Amsterdam via the Internet. After collecting 24 hours of laughter, I made an audio composition of the material, which was simultaneously broadcast on 50 radio stations around the world on 1 January 2000. All of these sounds of laughter were like that of a big bang in space, creating the World Laughter Monument.
The project received much publicity, television exposure, radio interviews and countless newspaper interviews (see press release enclosure). There was also a presentation in the Bonnefanten Museum.
2. e-l@ugh
The successor to the World Laughter Monument is the video project, e-l@ugh. The project includes:
- To enable the laughter experience on an international network of public places inside specially designed e-l@ugh stations made of g-pet plexiglass.
- To entice the participant to send his/her own laughter on the Internet to other e-l@ugh stations, pc’s and exhibition screens.
- The adaptation and presentation of this ‘online’ material as a continuing work at diverse exhibitions.
In the Municipal Museum in 2001, I showed some proof work during the symposium Faces of Laughter, organized by the University of Amsterdam.
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