It ís one of those things that we are just never going to figure out how to do. We hate it because it reminds us of all the things we haven’t done, and can’t do, and don’t want to do and can’t in a million years ever imagine getting done anyway. As you wait and the moments drag on you slowly sink into worry about everything in the world that you have no control over. Basically waiting is the only thing in our lives that we have no control over; because whatever it is we are waiting for is in control.
De Vaalserberg has just moved the office into the gallery. Hatty Lee is a good choice to signify this move because she has a thing about offices. Especially that uncomfortable corporate language of plastic chairs that makes your back sweat and horrible coloured carpet that almost induces nausea as you wait for the doctor to tell you bad things about your stomach.
Everyone has bad things happen in their lives. Hatty had a car crash once and another time she got ill. For a while she got panic attacks. These were anxious times, they were special times; they changed her. Once she told me that having a panic attack makes you feel kind of floaty, like you are going to take off. Like every thing is out of control.
Hatty Lee has turned the gallery into an exaggerated waiting room. She has made a circle of her anxiety about this exhibition, bringing her fears to the surface in a super real environment. The seats in her waiting room have belts on them, like the ones on planes. When fastened you wonder if they will really be any good at saving your life because they are so small and so insignificant and nowhere near as fancy looking as the ones the stewards and the pilots get. But you do them up anyway, because they stop you floating away with panic. They help you to be rational about your fears and stop that rush of anxiety from spinning out of control.
Then suddenly the waiting is over. Your name is called out, the plane takes off, the bus comes, the interview starts; the exhibition opens, the doctor beckons you with his biro. Then what………?
Half augustus staat de Vaalserberg er nog gehavend bij: de muren zijn gestut & de kantoorinventaris zit achter plastic. Zijn we op tijd klaar voor de opening van Hatty Lee’s OFFICE?
Witte de Withstraat 44 – 1 hoog, Rotterdam, open donderdag t/m zondag van 13.00 – 17.00 uur, opening op zondag 13 september vanaf 16.00 uur