Elvira Wersche (1948 Westerstede, Germany) lives and works in The Netherlands since 1974.
세계각지의 여행자들이 보내온 현지의 모래로 만들어진 패턴그림.
(…)But shortly after the work is completed, visitors will experience a dramatic event. Wersche wipes the entire painting away. The colours mix like the paint in a painting, patterns become mere streaks and are eventually absorbed into the ill-defined colour of ‘just a heap of sand’. Sometimes visitors are given a small quantity of sand to take home with them, as a parting memento. They know how significant that sand has been.
The total performance, the entire ritual, is lengthier still, and its content is more layered than I have described here.
The installations of scattered sand are not composed of arbitrary material, purchased or supplied by a company. The sand is collected under the artist’s supervision. Her friends, fans and interested observers collect sand for her. In this context, ‘sand’ is not defined simply as quartz – in geological terms, silicium oxide. It is everything that covers the earth’s surface.
People collect it and give it to Wersche: her sand is truly a collection of gifts. People scoop up the sand, put it in a jar or an envelope, and send it to her with a note, frequently enclosing a photo by way of documentation. So in a sense, this represents the ultimate act of giving: the sand is picked up and immediately passed on.(…)
- text from Michael van Hoogenhuyze’s article
