House Show - video installation - 2025

House Show is a work about not reading a book. It begins with the discovery of a manuscript that my grandmother wrote in the mid 1970s: a memoir of her life as an addict that, like a cursed object, every member of the family has kept close but steadfastly avoided reading.

Choosing a ‘strategy of delinquency’ in trying to engage with her book while still refusing to read it, both the video’s narrator and the camera jump like a resisting magnet, exploring the desire to view off-screen action, to dig around the edges of a buried stone, to read through the corner of one’s flitting eye. The video mixes archival and contemporary footage shot on 8mm videotape to take detours around the words of the memoir, orbiting them and crossing through other texts, through translations, through pro wrestling lore and through a meeting with the inventor of an elusive light illusion. It explores the ways that text and image as a primary sources can communicate even when we don’t take them at their word.

single-channel video - 21:00 min loop

entertainment center (lithographs, wood, aluminum, steel, acrylic, Video8 tapes, ulexite crystal) - 48 x 220 x 213 cm

easy chair (wood, vinyl, nylon) - 85 x 85 x 70 cm

produced with support from Culture Moves Europe Individual Mobility Grant and Amarte Fonds

photos in the exhibition Reading Characters at Billytown, The Hague: Bart Lunenburg

House Show - print installation - 2024

The project also includes a series of lithographic prints, mounted on steel and aluminum box frames. The series was displayed in its entirety in a solo exhibition at TACA, Palma de Mallorca, in 2024. The images stem from different sources. Some are taken from my grandmother’s own archive, capturing the obscured edges of the period of her life (perhaps) described in her memoir. Others reference research into the role of off-camera action in pro wrestling television broadcasts and the discovery of a type of elusive light illusion that can only be seen by the flitting eye.

Accompanying each print is a magnetically mounted piece of ulexite crystal that can be guided freely across the image by the viewer, like a loupe or viewfinder. Ulexite, a naturally occurring borate crystal, is also known as ‘TV stone’ because of its unique optical properties. The parallel fibrous structure of the ulexite allows it to act like a fiber-optic cable. When laid over an image or object, the ‘TV stone’ will project the image from the bottom face of the stone to the top face of the stone, making it appear as if the image is ‘on screen’, a purely analog broadcast.

5-color lithographs, aluminum, zinc-plated steel, brass, rigid PVC, ulexite, magnets, text

each framed print 30 x 39 x 2 cm

photos in the exhibition House Show at TACA, Palma de Mallorca: Juan David Cortes

𝘐 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘬𝘦𝘱𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘢 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘺 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 20 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘨𝘰 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘔𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘶𝘮 𝘰𝘧 𝘚𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘉𝘰𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘯. 𝘐𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘨𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘨𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘝𝘢𝘯 𝘥𝘦 𝘎𝘳𝘢𝘢𝘧𝘧 𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘰𝘳, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘴𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘮𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘭𝘭. 𝘐𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘱 𝘰𝘧 𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘓𝘌𝘋𝘴, 𝘴𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘱𝘶𝘭𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘓𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘰𝘯, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘦𝘭𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘦. 𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘐 𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘺 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘺, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘯 𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘩𝘺 𝘧𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘥. 𝘐 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘢𝘸 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘧𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘺 𝘦𝘺𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘱𝘰𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘥 𝘶𝘱 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘺 𝘷𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯. 𝘐 𝘭𝘦𝘵 𝘮𝘺 𝘷𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘧𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘴𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬, 𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘺 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘭𝘦𝘧𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘓𝘌𝘋 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘱, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘤𝘩 𝘢 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘧𝘭𝘦𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘶𝘨. 𝘐 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘱𝘶𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘺 𝘦𝘺𝘦𝘴. 𝘈𝘴 𝘴𝘰𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘴 𝘮𝘺 𝘨𝘢𝘻𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦𝘥, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘦.