Conserving the Representation
Representative decision-making systems have been around for around eight hundred years. They have served us well, and have shaped what we today know as “democracy”. But, do they really work as efficiently in this era of ours as they did in the past? Do they really represent our multi-mega national public? Are they as pure and untainted as they are meant to be? I believe that corruption, lobbying, financial interest, power games have made the core of the representative system gradually obsolete. Are we not just conserving this presumably precious relic which we have created and held sacred for far too long and for far too much price?
In “Conserving the Representation”, the aim is to create a series of sculptures from the most influential, and most controversial parliament chambers from around the world. The chambers are printed in 3D and put inside of different glass containers, containing the most valued and popular alcoholic drink/liquor from that country, to be left for aging. There are three made so far. UK, NL, IT.
Conserving the Representation is a side project to Open Source Governance. ProjectOSG is a collective attempt to make it possible for the citizens and the members of a society to be able to take part in the structure of their government or society, directly through open-sourcing the legislation.
The first sculpture from the series is the chamber of the House of Commons of the UK submerged in gin. The sculpture has been exhibited at David and Goliath in Kunstplatform de Apotheek. The second one from the series is the Tweede Kamer (the Second Chamber of the States General), which is the lower house of the bicameral parliament of the Netherlands. The chamber is submerged in Jenever inside of a glass jar built by Vegla Inmaakglas company from the 60s. The third one from the series is Camera dei Deputati, lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Italy. The chamber is submerged in Grappa, in a traditional Italian pickle jar.
This project has been generously supported by Stichting Stokroos and Fonds Kwadraat
Conserving the Representation
Representative decision-making systems have been around for around eight hundred years. They have served us well, and have shaped what we today know as “democracy”. But, do they really work as efficiently in this era of ours as they did in the past? Do they really represent our multi-mega national public? Are they as pure and untainted as they are meant to be? I believe that corruption, lobbying, financial interest, power games have made the core of the representative system gradually obsolete. Are we not just conserving this presumably precious relic which we have created and held sacred for far too long and for far too much price?
In “Conserving the Representation”, the aim is to create a series of sculptures from the most influential, and most controversial parliament chambers from around the world. The chambers are printed in 3D and put inside of different glass containers, containing the most valued and popular alcoholic drink/liquor from that country, to be left for aging. There are three made so far. UK, NL, IT.
Conserving the Representation is a side project to Open Source Governance. ProjectOSG is a collective attempt to make it possible for the citizens and the members of a society to be able to take part in the structure of their government or society, directly through open-sourcing the legislation.
The first sculpture from the series is the chamber of the House of Commons of the UK submerged in gin. The sculpture has been exhibited at David and Goliath in Kunstplatform de Apotheek. The second one from the series is the Tweede Kamer (the Second Chamber of the States General), which is the lower house of the bicameral parliament of the Netherlands. The chamber is submerged in Jenever inside of a glass jar built by Vegla Inmaakglas company from the 60s. The third one from the series is Camera dei Deputati, lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Italy. The chamber is submerged in Grappa, in a traditional Italian pickle jar.
This project has been generously supported by Stichting Stokroos and Fonds Kwadraat
