The summer of Boijmans
June 2012
June 2012
Guest curator Nicolette Gast worked intensively with Sarkis and wrote an essay about the exhibition. On entering the Submarine Wharf you will receive a booklet containing her essay. We provide a foretaste here.
One of the things guest curator Nicolette Gast writes about in her essay is Sarkis’ first visit to the Submarine Wharf in the winter of 2010:
‘Several missing skylights had allowed snow to blow in, covering the floor with a glistening white layer. The snow muffled the acoustic, creating an enchanting silence. He was immediately reminded of the church interiors of the Dutch painter Pieter Saenredam (1597-1665). Sarkis is fascinated by the architecture of churches and appreciates their value as places where people congregate. Sarkis immediately decided that he wished to transform the Submarine Wharf into a spiritual and sacred meeting place.’
‘The first thing that Sarkis did’, explains director Sjarel Ex about this visit to the Submarine Wharf, ‘was clap his hands: the building’s acoustic pleased and inspired him.’ In the exhibition the composition ‘Litany for the Whale’ by John Cage is played continuously. Here you can listen to a performance of this work, written for two singers and based on the underwater calls of whales. In the Submarine Wharf Cage’s piece is performed in a version that carillon player Frank Steijns made specially for the carillon in the exhibition. You will be able to download this performance from boijmans.nl from June.