Femke Schaap (NED)
FOUT EEN / WRONG 1
1998
spatial film installation, two 16mm film loops with sound, 90 sec. Two film projectors, two loop tables, cutout polystyrene foam board
Femke Schaap films situations, not stories. Shapes and figures are literally enclosed within their frames, existing only thanks to their background. Taking apart her original film material, she produces different film rolls that capture specific elements of the whole. By projecting these different film segments onto cut-out polystyrene panels placed in the space, and by revealing only those parts of the film that fit on the boards, the original film material is given a new spatial existence. The situations that interest Schaap are brief moments that capture people trapped in their occupations, in their disappointments, in their utter joy or in their repetition of a specific gesture while working, waiting, or existing in an emotional state of denial or loneliness.
In WRONG 1, a large man stands by the doorframe in the back room, leaning sadly against the wall with a plastic bag in his hand, being comforted by a woman rubbing his back. Also in the room, a young woman stands against the opposite wall, only her body visible, her head tucked away, her hand clutched in a fist, repeatedly banging against the wall in a compulsive rather than angry manner. In between these scenes, a young man kneels with his head on the ground, pounding the floor with his right hand. Meanwhile, the words WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG glide by, projected like a sliding banner, high on the wall of the front room.
It seems like someone has made a big mistake, or else a bigger misfortune must have befallen the seemingly connected group of characters. Although all persons depicted must have their own reasons for being in this desolate state, we cannot else but imagine a whole range of tragedies that could have occurred only moments before entering the room. Despite the fact that our interaction with the fragmented familial dramas resides in the imaginary, a physical confrontation with the three-dimensional representations is unavoidable, as we walk through the confined spaces of their exposed realities.
Biography
A true sculptress of light, Femke Schaap (the Netherlands, 1972) composes images by projecting selected parts of film onto cut-out, three-dimensional polystyrene forms. In 1997, she received the Prix de Rome Sculpture award ( Amsterdam, NED); in 1999 she was nominated for the Prix Nouvelles Images ( The Hague, NED), and in 2000, she was awarded the FORTIS Visual Arts Award ( Amsterdam, NED). Schaap’s light sculptures have been exhibited in art fairs, galleries, festivals and museums such as the Stedelijk Museum (Amsterdam, NED, 2000), Kyoto Art Center (JPN, 2001), Museum of Modern Art (Arnhem, NED, 2003), Center for Contemporary Art Kiev (UKR, 2003), and 42 Steps (Xiamen, CHN, 2003). Femke Schaap lives and works in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.