194. Central Museum by Ruud van den Berg

About "194. Central Museum"

by Ruud van den Berg

About the artwork

In a dark, almost sacred space of the Central Museum is an intriguing digital artwork that plays with silence, reflection and impermanence. Central on a table is a classical-looking bust of a woman, veiled and facing modestly downwards. The statue's austere pose evokes an atmosphere of introspection and stillness. Behind her rises a large, old-fashioned mirror, framed by a heavy wooden border. The mirror does not reflect reality as we know it, but casts back an alienating shadow of the sculpture, as if the soul of the sculpture is detaching itself from the marble.

To the left of the sculpture is a dressed mannequin, acting as a silent observer, with vague, hard-to-distinguish structures next to it - fragments of past or imagination. These additions reinforce the sense of a scene between dream and memory. On the wall to the right hangs a circular sign with the inscription "exit", a mundane object that contrasts with the timeless aesthetic of the rest of the work. Yet this sign does not seem purely functional: it takes on symbolic connotations, as an invitation to escape or a reference to the inevitable end.

The play of light, shadow and reflection makes this work a digital meditation on identity, impermanence and the relationship between the physical and the spiritual. The installation invites the viewer to stillness, to look behind the form - to that which is not immediately visible.

Address: Agnietenstraat 1, 3512 XA Utrecht

Digital artwork after photo by Wim Ahlrichs

Finished on: 3 October 2024