Emotional tripartitie

3 metal reliefs on stands

If we say out an idea, we start to own it, defend it,
Use it as a tool of intellect,
And become it.
This is how symbols are created.
If we are empathic to a feeling
We are bound to it; we might be even wounded by it
We read ourselves into it.
Our ornaments.
And just now having written these words
I killed my idea.
I will grieve it.

Ornaments Distorted is a site-specific installation that has been exhibited in February 2009 in Amsterdam Oude Kerk.

The three metal reliefs I used on music stands are an animation of an emotional process. The left relief, the most sculpted one, therefore distorts the observer and its environment the most, but it is the most polished one, so it reflects the incoming light the best. The most right one is almost flat, so the most factual representation of the viewer in its surroundings, but the least polished one.

The piece is about how one’s experiences helps polishing one’s reflection, but at the same time the emotions collected along the experiences (fear, love, hate) direct the person’s reflection on the topic. These two elements determine one’s spiritual development, and the processes can be harnessed with any self-reflective practise. Nevertheless, any stage of this hypothetic process that is represented here, can be enjoyed as a piece of music can be.