lightworks

Fluorescent lights and pink film
40 × 20 × 0.10 m

The long line of windows in my apartment looked out over BABEL, our latest project in 2006: a 4,500 m² artist-initiated gallery in a 14-story building just north of central Utrecht. Each month, the exhibitions changed—fast, bold, energetic.
There was no time to sculpt.

So I pondered on how I could still participate. How to share my message in a way that was lighter, simpler, more immediate. The answer was: simplify.
A two-dimensional heart could become three-dimensional—if made of light.

The concept was brought to life by an Iranian artist and asylum seeker.

Dimensions: 20 × 1.80 m , 4 times in Dutch, English, Arabic and Chinese
Location: Oudenoord 275, Utrecht

It touches you

It makes you feel

It makes you feel and form a deep connection with another human being

These words are a piercing statement

Perhaps the most powerful words we know as humans

Everything in your life changes the moment they are spoken:

I love you

The Big Heart at BABEL was only a warm-up that led me to this next step.
The Big Heart was visually striking, but the metaphor in light was too easy. Almost like graffiti. And that troubled me.

Then suddenly the answer came: don’t use the metaphor—say what you mean. So I wrote I LOVE YOU in light.

I was stunned by the idea and found it hard to judge. It felt scary to present such an intimate message in such a public way.
But when I realized I was afraid of what other artists might think, I immediately decided: I must do it.

December 2019 – March 2020

Realized with the collaboration of the residents of the street. Kraanstraat is a charming, narrow street of 100 meters in Utrecht that is very dear to me. My mother lived there for years, and I lived just around the corner.

Every year there was a neighborhood gathering, and my mother—already well into her 90s—often made a big dish of bread pudding for her neighbors.
As a tribute to her, I donated my concept and support to help realize I LOVE YOU in the Kraanstraat during the winter of 2019–2020. After Chris van de Berg and his colleagues welded the arcs the neighbors came to my studio and fastened the light string to the arc’s. We made three: in Dutch, French an Turkish

Concordia Creative Industries Building No.1

With special thanks to Radboud Spruit and Marjolein van Wijk, who took three Syrian refugees under their wing. Through them, I had the chance to work closely with these men.

This light project was created in collaboration with Syrian refugees Mahmoud and Mohammed, under the direction of Annemarie Steinvoort.
Three ‘I LOVE YOUs’ were made—in Sranan Tongo (Surinamese), Arabic, and Dutch.