Beyond Space proudly joins the ranks of 90 independent artists and galleries at the 2021 edition of BIG Art, Sep 30 - Oct 3 at the Hembrugterrein. Their third incarnation of office-inspired boredom rituals takes the shape of a monumental mobile.
Harking back to Alexander Calder, who revolutionised art with his moving sculptures, this kinetic installation is made up of a total of 42 perfectly balanced Boring clocks. Spanning six metres across, the gentle giant spins counter clockwise, as if to turn back time, to a hypnotic soundtrack of soothing office sounds.
After over a year of lockdowns and restrictions, we’re ready to repopulate the office. Beyond Space welcomes back the office worker and invites them to reclaim that elastic time that happens when the clock ticks away the working day, when a second stretches into eternity.
Under the entrancing trail of the Boring Mobile, the visitor sinks back into a bean bag to give themselves over to a lullaby of of office sounds: the ring of a phone, a computer starting up, the faraway screech of a fax machine, the rustling papers, a drawn-out yawn sounding off somewhere in the background. It is here, in that empty space where time disappears, that the magic happens: after all, boredom breeds creativity.
The Boring Mobile is the third incarnation in a series of installations inspired by boredom rituals stemming from office culture. For two earlier instalments, Beyond Space paired with Amsterdam artist duo Lernert & Sander. The first took the shape of a larger-than-life clock in which the time was marked by a man throwing a precisely scrunched up wad of paper per second in the 60 bins encircling him. The second sculpted a dysfunctional cabinet out of Boring office furniture in a clever homage to Ettore Sottsass and was displayed in the Design Museum Den Bosch.
The Boring Mobile soundtrack is by Coen Berrier. The clocks, the building blocks of the installation, were kindly donated by Lensvelt, with whom Beyond Space collaborated on the Boring Collection of office furniture. The beanbags were created especially for the occasion by high-end interior design office Siersema. MONO, represented by Tom Lugtmeijer joined forces for the build of the installation.
Beyond Space is fronted by partner architects Remi Versteeg and Stijn de Weerd. Upon founding their new studio Beyond Space in January 2021, the Boring Collection moved along with them. Beyond Space sits comfortably where art, architecture and product development meet, and mix buildings and spaces and objects.
Photo: Reinier van der Aart
