Cerith Wyn Evans
A.A. Hijmans van den Berghgebouw

The entrance hall of the A.A. Hijmans van den Berghgebouw in Utrecht has been decorated with a spectacular chandelier. In a continually pulsating movement its lights slowly dim after which they brighten again. Indeed this hand-blown replica of a chandelier that can be found in the Palazzo Ca Rezzonico in Venice seems to ‘breathe’ light. The eye-catcher is part of a series of three works that the London artist, Cerith Wyn Evans, created for the building and its users. The other two works are harder to locate. For example, on the facade of the adjacent building neon letters were fitted that read the following text: ‘…In which something happens all over again for the very first time’. The third work is a sound work in collaboration with musician/composer Florian Hecker.

Wyn Evans’ work bears a strong conceptual tendency in the sense that he is interested in the boundaries of our thought processes. These not only include discovering and gaining new insight but also the process of forgetting and the irrational state of the human mind. All are themes in his installations.

With his three works the artist forges a relationship not only with Erick van Egeraat’s architecture but also with its users. The hi-tech building is part of an expansive biomedical complex located on the east side of De Uithof. Through the increasing need for educational facilities, the building houses various biomedical faculties and departments. The medical students who use the building are tomorrow’s doctors, medical specialists and scientists. They learn how to place the new possibilities that scientific progress introduces into a moral framework, particularly when it comes to deciding between life and death.

The three works have been placed so that they can never be viewed simultaneously. Each functions as an autonomous work and each appeals to a different sensory perception.

The decidedly visible presence of the handmade chandelier evokes the almost defunct art of glassblowing and contrasts with the innovative research field of medical science. The light and the many colors of glass lavishly reflect in the large shiny surfaces of the building’s architecture. In these reflections the object celebrates the building, its users and, indeed, life itself.

The text ‘…In which something happens all over again for the very first time’ was fitted to the facade of the adjacent building and can be seen from different classrooms. Like a subtitle, it subtly comments on what is being learned within these rooms.

The sound work is a digital composition by Florian Hecker that continues for a long while and then, cued by a specific interval, repeats itself. The work can (sometimes) be heard in the corridors of the educational faculty, thereby becoming food for thought. As such the art placed in this building stimulates our different sensory organs as well as our thought processes.