Another stop for the Future Affair installation this year was at This Art Fair. I took this opportunity to also show fresh new works I developed together with Patricia Nagtzaam who did a 6 month long full-time internship in my studio. During her internship, Patricia helped me introduce a sound layer to the Future Affair: a contact microphone underneath the sculpture connected to an amplifier in the other cabin: the person being touched can hear the sound of the other person touching the surface of the sculpture as well as the sound of the vibrations and mechanism during the interaction. Together we thought about the concept of a new artwork: Consent pods, two handheld sculptures that breathe, change colour and have a heartbeat when touched. The participants can give each other consent by switching a thumb on the pod. And if touched without permission, a loud alarm will start ringing, publicly shaming the one who touched without permission. And she also helped me make the lamp needed for the Golden Hour Forever, a custom-made lamp with photographic filters which projects the colours of the Golden Hour on the copper panel.

This was a very intensive period and a big learning curve for both of us. At This Art Fair, we could put these new works to the test with the public. It was nice to see how all these works came together in one narrative as if they have always belonged together. The most magical moment was when people held the consent pods to their chests to feel their warmth, hear the heartbeat and connect with each other. This is now a starting position for another work which I can’t wait to start working on.