Hair-washer district in de Kerk

installation and everyday performance

January, 2007

"Rietveld in de Kerk", Oude Kerk Amsterdam

Amsterdam, the Netherland

This work is a conclusion of searching for a way to connect with the space of the church, as Christianity and churches and are so far from my background. To work physically in the church can allow me to be there, to take a specific condition of the church, open space with the beautiful wooden ceiling, frozen space in winter. In many religions, water has a symbolic significance. It is used on the body in a purification ritual, baptism being one of those rituals. I'd like to use water in a different way from religious ceremonies. Washing hair is a daily ritual. I create a special time for the audience, to give them a service, to wash their hair while they are lying back on a seat, looking up at the beautiful high ceiling with the sound of water and conversation. - How dose it look like? - I build a tower of scaffolding, accessible by stairs. On top of the tower, the space consists of furniture like a coat rack, a chair, a table with a sink, a mirror, a shelf with towels, a towel rack, a pole with a fixed pulley (to lift up buckets of water) and a kettle on a stove. On the table, a washbasin, a comb, a block of shampoo and a block of conditioner. I welcome only one person per half-hour. The person climes up stairs, takes off a coat and puts it on the coat rack. Lie back on the chair with a blanket, leans head back on the sink of the table. I lift up a bucket of water from a water tank on the ground floor using the rope and the fixed pulley. I mix water and boiled water from the kettle on the stove. I pour water on the person's hair, massage the hair with shampoo and conditioner. The water goes down to a bucket on the ground floor through a pipe, I dry it with a towel and a hair-dryer. After the person leaves, I go down to the ground floor to take the bucket of left water to the bathroom, throw water away. - Location - this installation should be isolated with hight from the rest of the space because of a different function from the church, as a specific purpose to wash hair. Also audience can have a different perspective of a ceiling and a whole floor while walking up the stairs. - Tools and furniture as ritual elements - tools and furniture are made by myself as ritual elements for this service. Every element is put on a specific spot with certain order in my installation.The view of the installation should be a perfect world for the purpose to wash hair in the church. - Construction - Scaffolding 250 cm wide X 350 cm depth X 400 cm height Water tank 100 cm wide X 100 cm depth X 100 cm height A pipe 350 cm length A pole with a fixed pulley Wooden stairs - Furniture - A coat rack A chair A table with a sink A shelf for towels A towel rack A stove - Tools and objects- A washbasin A comb A block of shampoo A block of conditioner Towels A hair-dryer A extension electricity cable A kettle 3 buckets A blanket A rope A sponge Water