E4
STATION 4. Jesus Meets His Mother
Lynn Aldrich: Ocean Eden, 2008, sponges, scrubbers, scouring pads, mop heads, brushes, plastic gloves and plungers, wood, 234 × 168 × 61 cm.
This colorful installation by American artist Lynn Aldrich is made from all sorts of ordinary cleaning tools, such as plastic sponges and brushes. Like a marine biologist, the artist collected “specimens” on shopping sprees all over Los Angeles and then studied them in the studio. Slowly they were constructed into a ‘coral reef’ as a monument to the extravagant biodiversity of creation, a miniature version of the Garden of Eden.
O deepest irony – is it not all this plastic which we consume together that pollutes the oceans? And is it not exactly this that asks for a major sweep?
It is for this same earth that Jesus took the cross upon himself. In a certain sense the earth is his mother, as, just like Adam and Eve, he was formed out of the dust of the earth. This installation is a plea to protect and preserve the beauty of the earth.
Location: Keizersgrachtkerk, Keizersgracht 566. This church is visited by people of all ages from inside and outside Amsterdam and from different denominations. The services devote a lot of attention to current social matters. Various issue groups work to put this social orientation into practice. keizersgrachtkerk.nl
text: Marleen Hengelaar