In the fourth shot of her film Beweeg maar niet (Better Not Move), Petra Noordkamp focuses on the extractor fan in the bathroom of the place where she is staying in Tokyo: a small, square plastic vent in the middle of the ceiling, framed by neat, moisture-proof seams of sealant. A beautiful but also minimal image that, combined with the monotonous hum in the background, evokes both silence and tranquillity as well as a certain sense of claustrophobia.
The film is playing in a small room in the gallery that was designed in collaboration with Benjamin Roth, where those mixed feelings never release their hold on you. The structure is small and narrow. To enter, you may have to duck for a moment – the entrance is 160cm high and tailored to Noordkamp’s height – and it is constructed of sheets of grey plasterboard. However, with the rhythmic arrangement of the black plasterboard screws, the apparently floating roof, and the floor that comes just a little off the ground, the structure also feels elegant and serene. In this light, the untreated sheets of plasterboard become a gentle mouse grey and the building evokes associations both with the concrete buildings of the Japanese architect Tadao Ando and the simplicity of a Japanese tea house.
Mood attaches itself to a setting. Noordkamp (b. Losser, NL, 1967) is a master of projecting memories, dreams and desires onto the surroundings. As she explores the environment with her camera, her personal stories merge with empty streets, concrete walls and shuttered windows. They speak silently, reflecting her story and drawing the atmosphere inescapably close.
In 2020, Noordkamp went to Japan as an artist in residence. She was interested in contemplative spaces and walled gardens but was also confronted with her fear of earthquakes. The anxiety that disaster might strike at any moment became a reality a few months before her departure, when her loved one died after a second cardiac arrest. During her time in Japan, the mourning and grief mingled with her fear, while the will to remember, not to forget, conflicted with her need...
