Dat speelt hier niet (That doesn’t come into play here)

 A koekplank is an elaborately carved woodcut mould for biscuits. Dough is pressed into it to create a human or animal shape, which is then knocked out of its mould and baked. On special occasions, a biscuit would be presented as a gift and in some cases would be a marriage proposal. The animal and human forms usually had hidden meanings, including poignant mockery of the receiver. It was up to the recipient to interpret the meaning. This made such rituals playful and exciting, but also entailed the risk of being publicly ridiculed. 

Many of these meanings have since been lost or have faded over time. Scholten examines the many transformations the biscuit figures have undergone. Church interference meant the symbolism of the biscuit boards had to go underground in children’s tales. When machines were introduced for making the woodcuts, they lacked the sharpness of the hand-crafted kind. The addition of butter and spices made many biscuit imprints unrecognisable. 

That doesn’t come into play here is a spatial translation of the album Scholten made around biscuit boards. It’s a collection of stories, captured in images, text and music, told with one foot in reality and the other in the imagination. A recitative tale about new transformations and our potential role in this.