marc philip van kempen

Posted by Fabio 9 May 2011

Marc Philip Van Kempen spent several research periods in the city of Los Angeles investigating the ways in which this city represents itself. During and after these visits he collected different elements such as film-stills, photographs, texts and architectural models, all loosely related to the 1939 novel “Ask the Dust” by John Fante. This material became the base for an architectural installation entitled “City (Composite Space I-XI)” which was photographically documented during the process of building. The city is seen as a complex structure made up of imaginary depictions, acute representations and strata of stories and memories that are in a constant state of flow. The structure of the installation was based on collage like aesthetics derived from Mac OS-X and Windows, echoing and incorporating the form in which most of the source-material presented itself during the research periods. But instead of using traditional two-dimensional techniques, He reconstructed the found material life-size from wood, paint, plaster, and a variety of other materials into a more “spatial” form of collage. The end-products are 7 large handprinted analogue photographs. The work tries to merge lens-based media, architecture, interfaces and stage design into an organic whole.

www.mpvk.org