Doris Hardeman (1993) notices how late capitalism is affecting our ways of looking and thinking. Everything in society seems ‘makable’: from the things we are surrounded by to our own happiness. Hardeman is interested in how this perspective often results in nostalgic interpretations of concepts like ‘craft’ and ‘authenticity’. She focuses on how these concepts are used to assign value to specific objects and materials. What do we consider to be authentic and how do trends affect our perception of materials?
Hardeman is mainly interested in the physical objects themselves. “Partly because of my training as a sculptor, I am fascinated by the intrinsic value of the material itself,” says Hardeman. She uses archetypes in her work, for instance focusing on ‘the rose’ over the past year. The rose has been entirely taken over by symbolism, with love and power (or violence) inextricable linked to each other. For her work at Prospects, Hardeman playfully approached this connection by pushing arrows made from polished stainless steel into targets. The apparently natural straw these targets are made from starkly contrasts with the artificiality of the polished steel. While the scene evokes association with the Middle Ages, at the same time nothing is ‘authentic’: each object is in fact a playful distortion of what it actually refers to.
Text: Milo Vermeire
Translation from Dutch to English: Marie Louise Schoondergang