Martin Riebeek based his work of art on the mechanical fortune tellers that used to be stationed at the fair. Upon the insertion of a coin, one’s future was handed on a piece of paper. In the entrance hall of the nursing home, he placed a display case containing a statue of a fortune teller. Visitors observing the woman are unwittingly filmed. The recording is subsequently projected onto a screen together with a caption such as e.g. ‘Thresholds are safe but, unfortunately, one cannot stand on them forever’. These captions are added to the image by a computer that randomly selects them from a stock of one thousand. Riebeek browsed through thousands of novels and consistently chose the first line on the hundredth page. He subsequently selected the lines according to their prophetic qualities. An added quality of the work is that the family and friends of the nursing home’s residents will, thanks to the short film, stay on the premises a bit longer.

Martin Riebeek
The Fortune Teller

photo: Peter Cox

photo: Peter Cox

photo: Peter Cox