With the syllogism Inside-Insight, Maria Lalou reflects a different approach on how things stand.
Initially trained as a designer- architect, Maria Lalou’s interest
lies in details, which affect the whole and the effect of space on individuals.
A Hole in the Water
Maria’s latest project, “A Hole in the Water”, is a site- specific installation for the OudeKerk in Amsterdam.
It is a part of her final year project at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie, Fine Arts-Glass.
In “A Hole in the Water”, mirrors were cut into small rectangular pieces and laid in a circle on the floor of the church.
The circle represents a hole, in the floor, as well as her personal feelings toward religious space.
Lalou states ”The basis of my idea is to create an other dimension of space,
while at the same time I wanted to interfere to a space for what it stands for.”
From afar, one will see the mirrors, working together with the natural light, as reflections of water.
Getting closer, the projection on the exact round shape, makes one feel as if there is a hole in the ground.
The image constantly shifts while walking around the piece, and the volume of the space,
suddenly becomes the depth of the hole.
The hole lies on top of the graves, from which the entire floor of the church is created.
On the mirrors, the interior space of the church becomes fragmented, distorted, disappears and reappears.
Through her piece, Lalou suggests the fragmented nature of reality and the difficulty to grasp the whole.
In her mother tongue, Greek,
“A Hole in the Water”, means “nothing”.
Stepping into the church and confronted with her piece, one becomes lost in the world of illusion and reality.
Piggs
A so called life project for Lalou, where glass transparent piggy banks, meet inside the Oudekerk model
Her “piggs” are emerging the “today’s format”.
Her today’s work is going towards illusionary spaces…and creatures;
February 2007
Ryoko Sato