Installation
Cardboard, paint, metal, wood, water, and mixed media 300 × 800 × 800 cm
Bau- und Verkehrsdepartement Basel-Stadt, Falkensteinerhof (Lichthof)
Münsterplatz 11
Rinus Van de Velde is mainly known for his large-scale, almost monumental charcoal drawings on canvas and paper. However, an important part of his practice are his life-sized decors constructed from cardboard and wood in his studio. These decors present the artist with numerous narrative possibilities. By photographing the characters in the decors, Van de Velde creates an abstracted reality, a parallel universe where his imaginary storytelling takes place. For his all-encompassing, long-term film project The Villagers, which will be screened in September 2019, Van de Velde created 17 life-size stage sets. The work titled Prop, Flood, Roof is one of these stage sets, but it also functions as an autonomic sculpture at the same time. The decor is one of the locations in the film: after a flood has overrun the village, the roof remains as a last-resort shelter. Set in a fictitious hamlet in the French Alps and featuring around 15 characters, the film is made up of interactive fragments of a wordless narrative that, in the absence of any strict script, are causally interlinked purely by the juxtaposition and editing of scenes.
