(Un)seen, a video installation by Marian Smit and Meriam Windmeijer. Two existing video works by both artists are brought together in a new setting. The videos are projected on net curtains that hang freely in the room, with a shadow of foliage drawn on the wall in the background. A video of a forest in the morning is projected on the side wall. The airy net curtains, the shadow without a source and the fog rising from the ground reinforce the idea that we cannot fully grasp or fathom something. Light and air are ephemeral media that – just like sound, smell and fog – disappear from our reach over time.

The videos that are projected on the net curtains in (Un)seen are Utopia by Marian Smit and Speling by Meriam Windmeijer.

In Utopia we see a young girl spinning around self-consciously, endlessly trying to make a beautiful pirouette, her arms up, followed by her long hair. She has a strong will to succeed and she does her utmost, but every now and then a hint of despair appears on her face, although she persists with determination. Will she succeed?

By projecting the video on canvas, the artists reinforce the immaterial character of the film medium. The canvas moves through the air, the air and the canvas catch the light. The moment when the recording was made has passed, the child may already be an adult.

Related to the pirouette in Smit’s video is the empty swing in Windmeijer’s video Speling. In this video the child is absent, at least invisible. The swing swings in the shade and squeaks skimpy, but who or what causes the movement is missing. Meanwhile, dark shadows and distorted people’s voices slide over the picture and sound of the swing. Somewhere very close it is apparently busy. However, the void of the swing does not seem to be noticed, although the child longs to be seen. The absence of the playing child gives way to the loneliness of the unseen absent one.