The element of surprise, a coincidence, all within a swift moment of time.

At this stage of my development I’m spending most of my time in the darkened room. I’m currently working on my collection of discovered slides, negatives, and glass plate negatives. Whenever I retrieve this precious material, the items are organized in various ways. The photographs have usually been arranged by the previous owners in chronological order. I’m transforming the order of the images into a new experience. This means that I recognize the optical representations as being part of a certain event that happens in a human life. I know which images are portraying the given event best and I relate these different images to each other. Basically I’m creating a new experience of an image. Sometimes this process can feel rather painful. It’s like I am intervening in something I am not allowed to interfere with, but now I can see that there is no other option.

It’s extraordinary how the images can come to cross my path. The photographers who are responsible for “the making” of the pictures probably never could have imagined that an artist would use them later in the process. When I work with slides I use several slide-projectors. I see it as poetry really; images and stories are harmoniously coming together.

The image consists of a band of overlaying light. It’s not exactly clear which fragment will be projected by which slide-projector. New images are continuously being created, but they’ll disappear just as swiftly as they came. The element of surprise, a coincidence, all within a swift moment of time.

The retrieved material is not mine, it was made by the hand of another. I see the material as a collective, as cultural and historical heritage. It’s irrelevant who took the image, the important thing is that the image is seen.