European Rorschach
Painted MDF board. Size; approx. 1.5 x 3 m. 2007
The starting point for this work is the classic Rorschach-shape used in psychoanalysis to uncover both mental suppressions and unconscious projections. In this work a symmetric shape is made of the image-map of Northern Africa/Middle-East and Europe; Europe is “tilted on its back”, moved off the centre and mirrored: Northern Africa creates an dominating central form whereas Europe seems to dissolve into geographical fragments.
The outlined geographical regions are based on the historical connections and influences between European and Islamic culture; through the Ottoman empire and the Moors. The works deals with both a collective ( European) denial of this historical cultural dependence and the actual projection of an enemy-image; Europe is no longer the natural “centre of the map.”
An arabesque-decoration is painted into the black surface of the Rorschach; the decoration consists of different Islamic patterns from different historical and geographical areas
