Criterion (1991) This sculpture, which is never allowed to be hung on average eye-level height but lower, is the result of a process of wondering how we recognize objects in the real by our senses and brains. Certain philosophical concepts speak of criteria that predetermine this recognition but are been argued by others as being too much a classical metaphysics by assuming that these categories are presensory and pregiven in the human mind or consciousness. But how can we recognize something when we notice it for the first time? Or do we not experience something that is not being recognized? During the process of thinking about these very intriguing arguments I found in a supermarket the matchbox brand 'Criterion' that actually led to the constitution of this work.

Realizing that there might be a kind of 'polaroidish' scanning of the world by the brain in a way that is develops snapshot wise images of reality without any pregiven coherence, I combined the matchboxes with the shape of a camera. Off course I am aware about the difficulties around the inscription in a certain visual history by using metaphor of the camera but nonetheless I found it appropriate. To divert this problem I always install the work lower than the average eye height so it connects more to the body and so expressing the affective understanding of perception. It has been shown at several exhibitions from Los Angeles, San Francisco to Vienna and Amsterdam. The front glasswork is provided by a design of a star by a worker of a glass factory allowing the work to be to a certain amount been produced in-between him and me.

Specifications: Size: 1.20m. by 1.20m. Plastic coated wood, silkscreen on yellow board, mechanically sanded glass.

Exhibited: Virtu, Nijmegen, Holland, (1990) Perpetual Strangers, San Francisco and los Angeles, U.S.A., (1992), Die Zunge am Eis, Nova Zembla, Den Bosch, Holland (1990).