With chalk line drawings on the floors of TENT, Ilke Gers responds to the architecture, history of use and rhythms of the spaces. She plays a game with movement and lines, how we read spaces and how we physically relate to the built environment.
The designed environment in which we live allows us to move through the city, but also acts as a formalized script. But as everyday users, we don't necessarily stick to that. We take a shorter route or a detour, straight through a hedge or looking for some shade, and in this way we draw tracks for alternative options. It is the intuitive logic of the elephant path, also known as 'Trampfelpad', 'desire lines' or 'free-will ways', with which many feet spontaneously appropriate public space.
The title of the exhibition is a quote from the public space of Rotterdam, and connects Gers' play of lines with the storm of demolition and construction activity taking place there. When the regular route to the cyclist tunnel under the Maas was closed for renovation long before, all sorts of informal paths emerged. Every time cyclists made their way to a new path, a new fence threw up a blockade. This tug-of-war came to an end when a handwritten message appeared on the paving stones, pointing to an opening further on with 'open & faster'. Fervent daily use made this the new fastest route to the other side.
Gers' line drawings are reminiscent of road markings, but also of a sports field, and invite you to re-explore your physical relationship to the space you are in while improvising.
Events:
On Saturday 4 June there will be a festive opening in the installation from 15.00:XNUMX. You are most welcome, reservations are not necessary.
You can also come earlier. The first lime lines will be laid by Gers from Friday 27 May.