fragment van een huiskamer Sculpture

Why is this living room shrunk? Here before us stands Fragment van een huiskamer, a peculiar sculpture by Mark Manders. It’s a snippet of a living room, scaled down to 88% of its original size. Fragment van een huiskamer isn’t just a random assortment of furniture. It’s part of Manders’ ongoing project, “Self-Portrait as a Building,” a fictional, ever-evolving structure he’s been working on since 1986. Think of it as a physical manifestation of his thoughts and memories. The two figures at the table aren’t separate entities. They are the same figure captured at two consecutive moments in time, like film stills. There’s a subtle shift in their expressions and arm positions, a “changing standstill” as Manders calls it. Notice the bucket in front of the table? It too represents two moments in time, intertwined. Manders envisioned this scene as a transition from the residential area to the open water. He decided on the 88% scale to better fit the sloping square. This reduction, he says, is more felt than seen, adding to the artwork’s slightly alienating effect. He wanted Fragment van een huiskamer to feel like a visitor at the edge of the square, observing the water, not dominating the space. The chair is there for us, inviting us to join in this contemplative moment.