Crowd, 2007
We encounter installations of Tensa-barriers in many situations in our everyday lives, e.g. in front of the check-in desks at airports. Their purpose is to compel a large number of people to keep in order and to provide a guideline. This type of installation is rather unusual at the beginning of an exhibition, for it makes it more difficult for willing visitors to enter, and while making them perceive the work aesthetically as a sculpture on the one hand, it also compels them to visualise its significance in our daily lives. At least this aid to order is placed at the outset of progress towards a different, perhaps freer or more promising destination. Our age is characterised by mobility, which is necessary to the individual for many and various reasons. People spend a lot of time in transit, expecting to be able to settle in new places – even far away from home. On the way there, they are controlled, regimented and supervised by external forces. The geometric arrangement of the Tensa barriers forces to slow down, and to be disciplined and patient.
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