The programme for Monsters Inside Me, which took place in the context of the Cultuurtraject, took off with an interactive exhibition tour through Dark Matters. The artists in this group exhibition explored the immeasurable and the inexplicable: the misty reaches of the universe. A world that is neither utopian nor dystopian, a place whose nature does not immediately reveal itself. What does this world tell us? What does it say about our current time? Universal themes, such as growth and destruction, good and evil, were depicted in monumental drawings, sculptures, and installations.
Jeroen Kuster, who has been fascinated with the animal kingdom since childhood, led the workshop. How are animals anatomically formed, and how is the animal kingdom organised? He uses the knowledge gained through addressing these questions in his visual work. Using everyday, functional objects, such as plastic cutlery, plasticine, fake plants, and cocktail sticks, he creates a new, fantastical universe inhabited by unlikely creatures. These organisms and mutated animals allow the viewer to think about nature and its modern-day manipulation.
In contrast to Kuster’s fascination with the animal kingdom, in this workshop he plunged students into the world of organisms invisible to the human eye. In a short presentation, Kuster briefly informed the school students about the mini-monsters that can live in the human body with disastrous effects. He revealed both the dark side and the beauty of these monsters.
What could the Monsters Inside Me look like? Using the same materials Kuster uses in his work, the school students let their imaginations run wild to create bacteria, viruses, and other micro-organisms. The diseases they created were safely stored in test tubes, which were collated to form a cabinet of curiosities. However, the question remained, will these creations improve the world or destroy it? To what extent can we control what happens to the health of mankind? Can something that is beautiful also be devastating?