Erik van Lieshout
Mobile Shop-Cuddle

A cuddle-space is a space for stimulating the senses by means of light, sound and music, for example. Bart and Erik van Lieshout designed a special mobile cuddle-space for Heimerstein, an institution for the mentally handicapped. It can be driven up to the residents’ houses so that a party can be organised on the spot.

The Van Lieshouts purchased an old mobile shop and completely stripped it. The remaining ribs were covered with distorting mirrors. The reactions of people outside can be seen from the inside since some of the distorting mirrors are transparent. The roles are thus reversed; it is not the handicapped who are shown up but the normal people outside whose faces are oddly distorted. The truck is further furnished with a sound system, a smoke machine, a stroboscope and six car seats placed in the front section of the truck. At the rear a dance floor remains open for potential partygoers. Bart and Erik rebuilt the mobile shop on the grounds of Heimerstein, staying there seven weeks. During the construction they were visited by a group of residents who got more and more involved in the building process. This became an important part of the video they made next to the mobile shop.
Bart van Lieshout had already participated in one of Erik van Lieshout’s projects, namely the video Respect which was shown the previous summer as the Dutch entry at the Venice Biennial. In addition to the mobile cuddle space they are now making a video about how Heimerstein and its residents reacted to them. They shot video material while working on the mobile shop as well as on other occasions, such as an outing with a resident to buy new clothes in Wageningen. The film will be shown not only to the residents but also beyond the institution.
The cuddle-truck had its premiere for the general public on Saturday 28 August 2003 during the truckers’ day that is organised once a year for the Heimerstein residents. A procession of around 200 trucks drove through the streets of Wageningen and Rhenen, ending up in the grounds of Heimerstein. The cuddle-truck with two of the residents of Heimerstein in it took part in the procession. Music chosen by the residents boomed out at full volume from the truck, and inside there was a party in progress that remained invisible to the bystanders.