Absence
Absence
2020
plywood, silicon rubber, plaster, wood, textile
140 x 90 x 30 cm
During her working period as Artist in Residence at the Royal Netherlands Institute in Rome (KNIR), Hurkmans researched the restoration of Mary's left arm of Michelangelo’s Pietà (1499) in the St. Peter’s Basilica. In 1972, Laszlo Toth destroyed the left arm and, consequently, the gesture that reaches out to the public. Thanks to the recreation of the gesture it is again an invitation for engagement with the theme of the Pietà. Paradoxically, the sculpture is placed behind a glass wall to be protected against another attack, which makes it impossible to experience the sculpture in its proximity.·
The installation Absence shows a mould that was made with the use of a copy of the Pietà from the 19th century. Absence reveals the empty space in a rubber mould of the part of the arm that was destroyed. As such, the installation emphasises the absence of the arm, which was also absent after the destruction of the Pietà as well as in the press photo that Hurkmans acquired.
Installation view of Absence with Indicated Gesture (archival cotton-based inkjet print, 108 x 60 cm, 2020)
