0027
28-02-1993
INSIDE OUTSIGHT
Dickens van der Werff
Architect

The spatial manuscript is made of wood, with two mirrors mounted on sheets of wood as pages. These mirrors swing outwards on hinges from two ‘book spines’. The sheets can be placed in different positions, allowing the viewer to vary the amount of space around the object. Depending on the position of the sheets, the reflection mirrors the relationship with the surroundings or gives rise to infinity in the space itself.

‘A book shows nothing as long as it remains closed. A closed book is introverted, turned in on itself. Only when you open it can you see reality reflected in it, and sometimes you can recognize yourself in it. The pages of a book are like mirrors. In Dutch, printers speak of the ‘bladspiegel’ – literally ‘page mirror’. As long as the book remains closed, the mirrors reflect each other. What is reflected in a mirror that is reflected in a mirror? What happens in a book that remains unread?’
(Hester IJsseling, cahier ‘Vedute Salons 1998’, p.50)

www.ijsselingvanderwerff.com