Which Boundary Shall We Cross Today? Which keys will we find?

What started as a project for a soft keyhole ends up somewhere between an eyeball and an iris scanner, the form keeps changing with how we name it, multi media 2025

My sister-in-law recently recommended a book by Donna Haraway (”Staying with the trouble”, referring to accepting the status quo).  I am still studying it. What struck me in Donna’s writing is the idea that you don’t begin with what you want, but with what is already present. Not the human at the centre, but the whole situation. That feels very close to the way I work.

How My Work Begins

I often start without a clear end in mind. I look at what lies before me — or simply at what I feel like doing in that moment. It may be in my studio, but just as easily outside in the sun, standing at a table, or on a train. The place and the moment itself take part in the process.

The material gives direction, together with my aesthetic preferences, my ideas, technical solutions, the space available, the tools I have, and even my own strength and physical dimensions. Everything participates. What surprises me is how new possibilities keep appearing. Maybe it is a fantasy, but it feels like new connections are forming in my mind over and over again. It remains a wonder — and it never gets old.

How Objects Move Along

Objects themselves take their own path as well. Some things enter my home as everyday utensils and later end up in the studio. Others I buy for their shape, thinking they might become building blocks for an assemblage — and yet they eventually return to the house as a planter, home decoration, toy, or practical helper. It shifts constantly. The object simply moves to where its value is highest at that moment.

This way, objects move between functions, just as my work moves between moments, ideas, and materials.

The Über-Brain and Breaking the Familiar Route

While I work, I sometimes hear that inner “über-brain”: the part that forms and checks rules. It often falls back on the same norm, leading me to take the same familiar turn without noticing. In creative work, it helps to break that pattern for a moment. To take an unexpected step. To try something different.

Thoughts aren’t only a brake; sometimes they give energy. Especially when I deliberately exaggerate something — very small, very modest, almost invisible. But that tiny sideways move helps me step out of the fixed track for a moment.

And then I enjoy having expressed something in images, even if no one has heard or seen it. I want to scream, tell everyone- but just as well, it is enough that it existed for a moment.

The moment before, the thought deviation can feel vulnerable. I catch myself thinking, “Do you (=me) really need this??? ^_^ " or “What will people think of this?" and right now: What will you, the reader, think? Thoughts like that can slow me down. It isn’t that I don’t care about what you think; it’s more that I temporarily set your participation aside. The work first needs space to emerge, without me anticipating reactions too early.

No Final Ending

There is probably no true final ending. Some works move closer and closer to a point that feels right, but “finished” is always subjective. Perfection isn’t a fixed destination; it is a brief moment of recognition: this works, for now, for me, or for us. Later, that can shift again.

That keeps the process alive — and keeps me curious.

Opening an Old Work Again

Recently, I learned a new technique. Because of that, I was able to reopen and further develop a piece from around 1998. I made it in the years while we were raising the kids, and prosperity and growth inspired me. But now, in the interpretation as a key, it spoke again, as if it had been waiting all these years. That is the beauty of it: each work is part of a larger process that cannot be pinned down.

And Now: You May Look

The moment to let the outside world in has now arrived: my first exhibition.

You are welcome to look. And to have your own thoughts.

The work can speak in its own form and tempo — and you are invited to make your own connections.

Invitation – Exhibition Opening

 Venue: Galerie De Pomp, Warmond

 Date: 21 December 2025

 Time: 15:00 h.

You are warmly welcome to come, look, feel, listen, and respond.

It would mean a lot to me to meet you there. But!! don't worry if you can't make it on the 21st of December, all keys will be there for a month, ending 21th January .

Opening hours:

Wednesday–Friday: 15:00–17:00

Saturday: 11:00–17:00

Sunday: 13:00–17:00

And if you wish, please leave a note in the guestbook. It is always special to read what people have seen, felt, or taken with them.

Warm regards,

Erica