At spirit level

A solo exhibition (2023) exploring the spirit level as a contemporary symbol of balance, connection and collective consciousness. The work consists of three parts: a series of contemporary tribal masks, square wall objects made from spirit levels, and a spoken essay presented at the opening. The exhibition reflects on what happens to connection, community and spirituality in a world of constant networks, data and distraction.

Contemporary tribal masks

Contemporary Tribal Masks combined industrial spirit levels into mask-like sculptural objects. By joining two torpedo levels and binding them with sisal rope, functional tools for measurement are transformed into ambiguous faces. The sisal rope introduces a handmade, tactile layer that evokes the idea of the tribal, interrupting the industrial logic of the object.

Spirit levels

Spoken Essay

“We live in a time of secularization, of first seeing and then believing.

Instead of devotedly following a god, we randomly ‘follow’ many others on social media. The other does not necessarily have to be holy anymore but must be nice. The word ‘follow’ changes its meaning and so does the sense of belonging that came with it. And accompanied by that change, we have entered a time in which local communities are falling apart and digital communities have become commonplace.

Those digital communities entail that we have entered an immense digital factory, where we log on at any time and then produce unpaid data for the big data companies. We no longer stand at the assembly line but lie on it and have become the mass product ourselves. We are all connected, tamed, but barely in connection with our spiritual selves.

These times challenge us to reload the term connectedness. This new connectedness starts with a deeper connection with ourselves in order to connect with others from there on.

Reloading connectedness is in a different kind of holding and a new kind of religion. I foresee an untamed future in which we connect at a deeper level, or in other words; ‘at spirit level’.”