DUST TO DUST
2022
At times, Annemarie feels a growing need to understand the notion of ‘undoing’ something. Can we undo our actions, our damage to the world, our self-evident comfort, our privilege? Not in the literal sense of a Ctrl-Z action, but as a deeper exploration of the idea. In an attempt to understand this, she began experimenting with the concept of making and unmaking—dust to dust—a repetitive physical process. It’s an effort to gain embodied knowledge, without expecting immediate answers. In her first experiment, she unraveled her own project, a woolen carpet she had knitted using industrial textile waste. It had taken her weeks to create it, but only a few hours to unmake it. This process felt like undoing self-evident comfort. She performed it during lockdown, a reflection of the emotions stirred by the changing times of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Comfort, Lock down, locked up, strapped, intertwined, entangled, constrained, restricted, transience, obedience, fighting against time, suffocated, slow, giving time, speeding up, need to set loose, translucent, break free, unmaking, undoing, unlearning, open, give new form, new life, breath, air, light
The second experiment of undoing took place in Lithuania, near the Belarus border, at LT_Ranch (@lt_ranch_space), an extracurricular seasonal program. LT_Ranch is a non-profit, remote art space designed for spontaneous spatial research, experimentation, and cultural events. She was also a tutor there.
During her time at LT_Ranch in 2022, Lithuania and Poland were building fences along the Belarus border to prevent migrants from entering Europe. In this situation, people were being used as political instruments. As a European citizen, she recognized her privilege, benefiting from inherited wealth. But she began questioning: does that wealth truly belong to her? Why not to someone outside the wall or fence?
In this context, she felt compelled to undo a self-built ‘silver lace’ fence. Could she undo a sense of safety, accept naivety, and embrace vulnerability? Could she loosen her privilege? She reflected on what fences stop beyond humans—how they create borders for animals and nature, limiting their habitats. Why should humans claim ownership of all that land? Who, or rather what, should truly have ownership of the land?
She first built a fence, mostly from materials found at the Ranch. It took her a few days. Undoing it took even longer—cutting wire piece by piece in a monotonous process. She felt vulnerable, getting cut by the wire, but as she worked, she began noticing more details: butterflies and bees buzzing around, as if they were reclaiming their territories too. The experiment wasn’t intended as a statement but helped her to ask deeper questions.
As a collaborative, performative action, they gently commemorated the fence and laid it to rest. This resting place was only temporary, waiting for another project. But for the time being, it stood as a relic, a reminder to embrace vulnerability.
Undo, defense, fence, lace, silver, privilege, cutting, sharp, doubt, vulnerable, gentile, harsh, translucent, opaque, open up, empathy, human touch, animals, butterfly effect.
