Visual arts . Young artist Elise van der Linden makes nostalgic work. Light installations with an atmosphere of decay. Exhibition: Elise van der Linden, Shades of time, until 24 August at Het Nijenhuis Castle, Heino / Wijhe. Inl: 0572 388188 / www.museumdefundatie.nl Tue-Sun 11 am-5pm
By SANDRA SMETS
Museums where no one comes are the most beautiful museums, W.F Hermans once sighed and then he was surprised that he himself never came. Perhaps it is because some museums are so remote. Whoever takes the little train from Zwolle to Heino and then enters the woods, will find Castle Het Nijenhuis. On an average Friday afternoon it is dead quiet both inside and outside. The attendant walks outside with me at half past five to smoke a cigarette and close it up. No one will come anyway. It is tiring to sit inside for a whole day, he confesses. That is understandable. Apart from being lonely, it is also a bit dark inside. But in this dark silence the current exhibition does come into its own.
Elise van der Linden (1983) is a young artist with a longing for the past. In the collection of Het Nijenhuis she brought in six light installations that evoke an atmosphere of decay and nostalgia. She covered a series of chairs with a white cloth, like a dust cover, on which she projects plant ornaments that overgrow the furniture. Empty trunks are standing in the dark middle room next to it. By a gleam of waves they seem to float in the sea. If you look into it, you are staring into an endless black depth.
The Nijenhuis is a Medieval castle that was inhabited by noble generations for centuries. Located in a beautiful garden, the estate breathes the wealth of yesteryear. Van der Linden loves those traces of past glory, sometimes she revels a bit. On the painted ceiling of ‘the angel room’ she projects butterflies and growing cracks, further on there is a cupboard with a bridal veil where light whirls. A bursting ceiling, a veil without a bride – Van der Linden seems to have no trouble with greasy clichés.
Nostalgia and clichés in art are a bit cunning – it is the intention that artists come up with something new. Or at least make a good show of it. Van der Linden does the latter with the computer animation Ozon. The film is projected in the dark, old library and shows a landscape at sunset. The sky is red, nature is barren and sandy, the soundtrack consists of piano that sounds more like the ending of a film than a beginning. Yes indeed, you’ll think as a viewer, the world is finite, we are only soap bubbles, and we’ll all go down without mercy. Anyone who leaves the library with a dejected mind sees the equally dark Flood hanging around the corner of the door, a beautiful little painting by Jozef Israels. Once painted full of passion, it is now quietly waiting to see if there will be some offspring visiting.
Not all of Van der Linden works are equally successful, but they do function. That is to say: they color your view on the rest of the museum. Through her gaze the once modern living room becomes a place for silent conversations. The impressive staircase of fake marble is now the hangout of a guard. The portraits room with painted rich peoplein their most beautiful seventeenth-century collars are all dead and forgotten.
Through the outdoor exhibition of sculptor Adri Verhoeven, whose abstract stones in the vast lawn also get something lonely, the visitor walks back towards the station of Heino. No traffic or living soul can be seen in the furthest distance. Hermans was right. These are the most beautiful museums.
Projection innocence ‘by Elise van der Linden on the ceiling of a style room in castle Het Nijenhuis. Photo: Elise van der Linden
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