Gestalt for a museum (of modern art); Adapt. 2018

Gestalt for a museum (of modern art)
This gestalt is based on the mix of characters
in three ‘grand narratives’. Echo and Narcissus,
Alice and The Cheshire Cat from Alice in
Wonderland and Dorian in The Picture of Dorian
Gray. In all of these stories plays the concept of
mirroring a central role. Narcissus in love with
his own reflection. Echo can only echo. Alice
falls through the mirror and meets the Cheshire
Cat who replies in riddles, changes his shape or
color and can partially or completely disappear.
And finally, Dorian Gray, whose excesses and
debaucheries leave behind physical traces in
his painted portrait, but do not affect his real
face.
Echo is in love with the Cheshire Cat. This
in turn is in love with his own reflection.
However, he did not realize that his
reflection is not keeping pace with its
own excesses. The face before the mirror
turns into a “sacred monster”. The face
in the mirror is always enjoyable. The
cries he utters are out of admiration for
repeats itself by Echo. The Cheshire Cat
thinks the mirror is talking back with a
loving voice.
The contemporary museum is - simply put -
mainly in conversation with ‘art’ in the form of
what living artists produce and what is written
about dead artists. The audience is witness to
this dialogue between art and institute and tries
occasionally to throw a word in between. These
words will be heard only if they are a reflection
on this dialogue.

Cheshire Cat, Echo and Dorian Grey
The Cheshire Cat is a fictional cat appearing in Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures
in Wonderland. Alice first encounters it at the Duchess’s house in her
kitchen, and then later outside on the branches of a tree, where it appears
and disappears at will, engaging Alice in amusing but sometimes vexing
conversation. The cat sometimes raises philosophical points that annoy or
baffle Alice. It does, however, appear to cheer her up when it turns up suddenly
at the Queen of Hearts’ croquet field, and when sentenced to death baffles
everyone by making its body disappear, but its head remain visible, sparking
a massive argument between the executioner and the King and Queen of
Hearts about whether something that does not have a body can indeed be
beheaded.
At one point, the cat disappears gradually until nothing is left but its grin,
prompting Alice to remark that she has often seen a cat without a grin but
never a grin without a cat. It is this unusual disappearing act for which most
people remember Cheshire Cat.
One day when Narcissus was out hunting stags, Echo stealthily followed
the handsome youth through the woods, longing to address him but unable
to speak first. When Narcissus finally heard footsteps and shouted “Who’s
there?”, Echo answered “Who’s there?” And so it went, until finally Echo
showed herself and rushed to embrace the lovely youth. He pulled away
from the nymph and vainly told her to leave him alone. Narcissus left Echo
heartbroken and she spent the rest of her life in lonely glens, pining away for
the love she never knew, until only her voice remained.
The Picture of Dorian Gray The novel tells of a young man named Dorian Gray,
the subject of a painting by artist Basil Hallward. Basil is greatly impressed
by Dorian’s physical beauty and becomes strongly infatuated with him,
believing that his beauty is responsible for a new mode in his art. Talking
in Basil’s garden, Dorian meets Lord Henry Wotton, a friend of Basil’s, and
becomes enthralled by Lord Henry’s world view. Espousing a new kind of
hedonism, Lord Henry suggests that the only thing worth pursuing in life is
beauty, and the fulfilment of the senses. Realising that one day his beauty
will fade, Dorian cries out, wishing that the portrait Basil has painted of him
would age rather than himself. Dorian’s wish is fulfilled, subsequently plunging
him into a series of debauched acts. The portrait serves as a reminder
of the effect each act has upon his soul, with each sin being displayed as a
disfigurement of his form, or through a sign of aging.

Gerard Hadders, Pro Arts Design
Tuinlaan 64e, NL-3111 AW Schiedam,
t: +31(0)10 426 29 66
m: +31(0)623 67 10 93
gerard.hadders@proartsdesign.nl

Visual essay