Adinda van t Klooster

2004-2005 artist-in residence Adinda van 't Klooster works with a wide range of media such as video and sound installation, animation, interactive technology and sculpture. A recurring theme in her work is a questioning of a dualistic way of thinking that separates culture from nature, masculinity from femininity and life from death.

Inspired by medical imaging techniques, her work is a poetical exploration of the very early stages of the creation of human life and subtly explores ethical and political issues raised by developments in medical science. The work makes us marvel at the ingenuity of the natural world without ignoring the contribution of modern technologies.

Video Still from States of Receptiveness

_{^{© Adinda van 't Klooster 2003}}

This animation projection is based on a series of medical stills depicting the transformations of the uterine lining throughout the various stages of the menstrual cycle. Flower-like shapes called pinopods appear for one or two days of the cycle as the uterus is getting ready for the implantation of an embryo. The link between the presence of pinopods and a successful implantation of the embryo is noted in medical science, but not fully understood. Intrigued by the discrepancy between the ability to create these detailed maps and the inability to read them, I decided to use the stills as the basis for an animation sequence, using artistic licence to fill in the gaps in medical knowledge. Celebrating the mere insistence of life, the animation sequences were projected inside disused military bunkers in Crail and re-edited to a ten-minute video. The bunkers transformed into wombs. This powerful paradox is not simply a statement on the pointlessness of destruction itself, but seems to carefully pose the question: what is the true meaning of fertility and how do we value it in modern society?'

Symphonic Birth Grounds, Interactive Installation

_{^{© Adinda van 't Klooster 2003}}

This interactive installation combines light, sound, sculpture and interactive technology. Shapes based on the first 28 days of a human embryo are placed in pools of coloured light inside flowerpots. When moved within the light, the shapes generate sounds based on what a foetus hears inside the mother's womb.

This installation is about the wonder of human life. The most amazing transformations take place in the early life of an embryo. By touching and moving the shapes, the viewer can create his/her own soundscape. This work itself touches on the delicate subject matter of artificial recreation, biotechnology and research done on live embryos.

Breathing Earth

_{^{© Adinda van 't Klooster 2001}}

Inside a miniature cement coffin, a fitted LCD screen displays a super-8 film of animated earth. Drawing parallels between the biotech race to create the first human clone and the arms race of the cold war, this piece of sculpture questions the mechanical view of life, which places the aim of a society above the value of life itself.

In a broader sense, the piece investigates the area where life and death overlap. The coffin becomes a home on piles, the breathing earth a poetic translation of the myth of the man in St. Andrews who had a coffin for a bed.

This piece was made during a ten-week residency at the Crawford Arts Centre in the summer of 2001.