-
Seeds of Light, 2021
2 aluminum casts, wires
each lamp 80 x 50 x 50 cmPhotography: Michiel de Cleene
Work commissioned by Publiek Park at the Citadelpark of Ghent (BE) curated by Jef Declercq, Anna Laganovska, Koi Persyn & Adriënne van der Werf
Seeds of Light, group show Publiek Park, Citadel Park, Ghent, 2021
-
For Publiek Park, Evita Vasiljeva proposes a site-specific work that allocates the lanterpoles that were installed for the World Fair of 1913 as supporting bearers for her new installation, named “Seeds of Light”. The installation contains two aluminium cast reproductions of a Philips street light, which is a mass produced device that one can encounter all around the globe in the public sphere. Vasiljeva repurposes the archetypical light “box” into an alien(ating), material object, by means of hanging them with electric wire on the original lantern poles. The present poles are in a pitiful state of rust and deterioration and besides that, they are supplemented with more recently produced light elements, causing an anachronistic friction in the usage and the maintenance of these historical relics of the World Fair. “Seeds of Light” tackles the notion of street code/language, resonating with the act of throwing broken sneakers over power cables that are suspended over the street. Secondly, the installation alludes to the practice of public execution in the early French revolution, whereas radical revolutionaries tended to hang aristocrats from the lantern poles in the cities.
Text by Koi Persyn
Evita Vasiljeva ©
