Simon:
Ultramarine is, for me, an exploration of the submarine and everything it evokes: human technology, power and control, but also the mystery of the underwater landscape. The submarine is both the visual and conceptual driving force behind the work: steel tubes equipped with nuclear reactors that disappear underwater for months, only to suddenly resurface as if it were nothing. Impressive, unsettling and dark.
After five years of working within this theme, I am bringing together my sculptures, drawings and installations at BLANCO for the first time, including the submarine bunker installation from Terneuzen. Until now, I have created these works independently of one another. I am now exploring what happens when they are brought together in a single space, side by side and facing each other, and how this world is experienced by the viewer. BLANCO is where the worldbuilding of Ultramarine takes shape in its entirety for the first time.
The arrangement may shift and change throughout the working period. New work will also emerge within this context: newly sculpted submarines and large-scale, monumental drawn landscapes, both with and without submarines. Visitors’ responses are part of this process. The way they look at the work and move through the space influences how I continue to build this world.