8 December 2022, perfomance in Willemstad, Curaçao.
The Sanmapping performance marked the end of our stay at IBB.
During the performance, the students explore how they carve out a place for themselves in Willemstad, Curaçao, and the world. One with bravado, another with shyness, yet another with almost architectural precision. They bring traffic to a standstill – drawing takes precedence. They support one another and keep each other focused.
For days afterward, circles of sand, fading ever more, can still be seen on the pavement of Willemstad. Strikingly often, we see passersby staring at the ground as if trying to fathom the origin of these magical lines.
Preparation and execution
Together with the students, we prepared the performance in an accessible way over several weeks. We let the students experience what it means to draw circles with a bottle of sand. We discussed the necessary preparation: that the sand must be truly dry (and that this takes time); that the sand should not be too fine, but also not too coarse, and must have a uniform composition; the effect of the size of the hole in the cap; and the difference between perfectly straight circles and a looser approach. Afterward, we looked at the best way to photograph the circles, and we all reviewed each other’s experiments. We discussed how to engage bystanders in conversation about what we were doing. The remarkable thing is that, during such a process, everything gradually falls into place. The students divided themselves into groups, with some taking the lead. During the performance, they let loose completely; the thorough preparation had made stage fright evaporate. That afternoon, the city was filled with circles of sand. An empathetic way of saying: ‘We Were Here’. In Esther’s and my words: we have created a new landscape.
#Sandmapping Curaçao, a realization of the #Sandmapping (2) project that we started in 2012.
Realized during a Mondrian Fonds Residensie at IBB Curacao