FREE FALL, by Tanja Karreman, 2007

 

In the framework of the Netherlands’ percentage for art scheme for government buildings, Sanja Medic has completed a work of art for the Central Information Point of the Dutch Lower House of Parliament. The way in which she has made use of the architecture, its finishing details and the dynamics of the building itself is almost reminiscent of the integrated art for government buildings in days gone by. Originally, from the early 1950s, the percentage for art programme was intended to confirm a sense of unity and promote the ‘edification of the people’. For the so-called ‘percentage scheme for the decorative enhancement of government buildings’, art was at the behest of the architecture. It was applied or integrated and referred to the activities that took place at the specific location: grain for agriculture; fish for fisheries; airplanes for the War Office, etc.
Sanja Medic has illustrated the nature of politics in a poetic constellation. She chose 'The Motion’ as the starting point for her subject matter, referring to the political instrument of the same name and to the English use of the word: to move and to be moved. In the heart of a democracy, practical affairs and poetry flow together in a movement that is as festive as it is unsettling. History flutters past in a freefall. Sanja Medic’s installation connects the Central Information Point and the Plenary Meeting Room (Room 1) and is both literally and figuratively in the middle, between the accumulations of history and emotions in the heat of battle. It passes no judgment. Only the motion makes us continually think of the consequences, in whatever way we imagine them. There is no affirmation of unity. What else can art possibly do but celebrating the differences?
Art in the public domain in general and for government buildings in particular is about reciprocal expectations which are defined and re-defined. Just as long until it is what it has to be because it simply cannot be otherwise. Limitations and boundaries make up part of the expressive power of the work. With contemporary media, Sanja Medic has breathed life into the old concept of ‘decorating’ a space.  It has transcended autonomy by far, and yet, in the freedom of art, it is more autonomous than ever. Fish for fisheries, airplane for war, The Motion for the Lower House of Parliament.

Tanja Karreman