It looks and works like something one might find at a funfair, while playing with it is sure to conjure up happy childhood memories.
The project in question is Marije Vogelzang’s new Teardrop installation at the DordtYart centre for contemporary art in Dordrecht in the Netherlands.
Teardrop is a transparent installation made up of five kilometres of rope and 24 glass pipettes. The ropes are suspended from three cylinders that reach from the ceiling to almost touching the floor. Selected ropes, the ones that are connected to a glass pipette filled with flavour, have a tag attached to them. The ropes with the tags attached to them can be pulled to release a drop of flavour to be caught by the person standing at the other end of the rope. The second person, the one catching the flavour, needs to be standing underneath the pipette in the centre of the installation with their mouth wide open.
The installation offers an intimate experience to two people by allowing them to share a specific flavour.
Drawing on childhood sensation of being fed by somebody else, Teardrop is also about being comfortable standing somewhere with your mouth open and not knowing what to expect.
The tags attached to the ropes contain phrases like “a fly just flew into my mouth”, “I will always be there for you” and “I’m so tired of myself”, and are meant to offer a cryptic clue about what to expect from the flavour.
More than a visually powerful installation, Teardrop is also a tool for human interaction and play, Vogelzang explains.
Teardrop is on show at DordtYart until October.
