TRIBAL CHAPEL

2009

audiovisual installation
L 5m x B 2,1m x H 3m
wood, plastic foil, videoprojector, dvd-player, dvd-disc: loop 6 min, audio-amplifier and stereo speakers

“TRIBAL CHAPEL" consists of a temporary construction, a video-projection and an audiotrack. The construction of wooden frames suspended with plastic foil is built in the shape of a small chapel and invites the visitor inside to look at a videloop of a Maria-statue that gradually transforms into a tribalistic/futuristic dancing figure.

The installation was first presented at the annual "Lichtfeest" in Lissewege, a small village near the Belgian coast, to which artists are invited to make a creation with light.

Van Ishoven on ‘”TRIBAL CHAPEL”:
“Invitations like the one Brugge Plus offered me to participate in an event like the " Lichtfeest" in Lissewege challenge me to make a connection between what i learn and find on the location and what pre-occupies me in my artistic work. When i first walked around the village i constantly felt the typical church tower in the corner of my eye, no matter where i went. This brought me to tthe idea of broadening the meditative aspect that occurs in several of my installations, to to the religious aspect. In many ways, in the Western world, art is the religion of our time. But it can not replace it. This piece starts from the notion of broadening the religious notion, rather than commenting on it.
Moreover, for some time i felt like introducing rhythmic elements in my work, particularly Afro-Brazilian rhythms and movements, as an element of trance.
The dance was performed by dancer/percussionist Umma BRasileira, born in Salvador da Bahia, Brazil. She worked together to work out the movements in function of the installation and the specific body-painting patterns.
The signs that i used in the body-painting are a combination of tribal motives from African and Aztec cultures, on the one hand, and very schematic graphics like the typical citymaps of a subway network..."