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Rebecca Niculae | RECORD ROOM October 30 - December 5, 2021
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Rebecca Niculae is fascinated by the way we register and construct things. During her work period at ruimteCAESUUR she investigated the concept of a set (decor) by building a new space. This resulted in Record room: “Record room refers to a snapshot. In addition to the objects placed in it, this space functions as a setting for a new photographic work in which the foregoing falls away or the coming does not come. I think that's an interesting idea, maybe because what is absent is supplemented by thought.” 3
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Content Record room | the build up Record room | the work Record room | the text by Giel Louws Record room | the colophon
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RECORD ROOM | the build up
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RECORD ROOM | the work
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RECORD ROOM | the text
Record room Some time ago I stepped into a house, the smell of which immediately transported me into the hall of my grandfather and grandmother's house. The smell was very specific, a hint of mold mixed with a cold that had penetrated deep into the concrete. The hall of my grandparents house was very elongated, it started at the front door with the kitchen on the left, the living room on the right, then a bedroom on the left, the coat rack on the right, a staircase, the toilet on the left, a door, utility room, then the shed. The floor was made of concrete, ideal for playing when the adults were sitting in a birthday circle in the room. The house no longer exists, the small farm had become impractical, had ‘fallen out of time’. The house now exists only in fading memories of my grandparents' aging children and their offspring. Somewhere in me there are also memories of this house stored, which can materialize lifelike in my brain. Apparently they can immediately take shape again through a smell. The thought that this space no longer exists in its materiality fills me with melancholy. This hall contained so many memories, stored in a tenacious and slow method typical of stone, concrete, and wall paint.
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This comes to mind when I read the title of Rebecca Niculae's exhibition on the invitation that fell through the letterbox two days ago; Record room. In the photo on the front there is damage exactly on the object of Rebecca. The ink from the printer has been scraped down to the paper. It's fascinating, the language of things. When it comes to leaving traces, we quickly think of digital ones, but the analogue world is also teeming with traces. The object memory is usually activated through the injury; impact, abrasion, or exposure. It captures something of our physical presence, repetitive actions, broken paths. Our houses, cars, favourite seats are recording objects of our behaviour. In today's world where perfection and smoothness has become the norm, we get rid of these objects that are worn out. Neglecting that these objects contain recordings of your childhood, your father, or your grandmother. With Record room, Rebecca sets a point zero, a space without a history. She envisioned what this space might look like in form and materiality, and built it in Caesuur's history-laden space. To expose something about the process of memory and time she needed a zero point. So a blank page, a space without history. In this new space, every intervention has the potential to be the first act. Rebecca not 21only
only placed objects in this space, but repositioned them, and removed them. Space stored this process in his material memory, making room for what Rebecca left behind. Her entire working period has been recorded as a series of acts by the Record Room. And it is up to us to listen carefully to this recording.
Giel Louws 29-10-2021
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RECORD ROOM | the colophon
RECORD ROOM
600 x 230 x 240 cm | painted plaster walls, carpet 'Engram' (as a part of Record room) | 60 x 120 cm | carpet 'Untitled' | 12 x 27 x 2.4 cm | textile, acrylic, rag print, MDF Texts - Rebecca Niculae | Giel Louws Photos in black and white - Rebecca Niculae | Willy van Houtum Photos in colour- Gunnar Meier ruimteCAESUUR Jorieke Rottier | Willy van Houtum Giel Louws | Dani Ploeger | Hans Overvliet Lange Noordstraat 67, 4331 CC Middelburg | caesuur@zeelandnet.nl www.caesuur.nu | www.caesuur-posethequestion.nl K.v.K. Middelburg 411 143 92 | IBAN NL65 RBRB 0787 6747 53 thanks to the happy share holders & ditto friends of CAESUUR | the municipality of Middelburg Kattendijke / Drucker Foundation | Family Fund Hurgronje | Frits Lensvelt Foundation Mondrian Fund | SBKM/Vleeshal 24
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Rebecca Niculae | RECORD ROOM October 30 - December 5, 2021