De wasserette 2024
My project started with me trying to find a place in the neighborhood. I live in the Zuid neighborhood in Ghent, which is a neighborhood where there are many different people: behind me is the street with the sex workers and opposite me is a lawyers’ office. During the process I found out that the laundromat I go to is a place in the neighborhood where the people come together. Furthermore, I found the laundromat interesting because it is a public and anonymous place. Also an extension of the street.
I made an installation where the laundromat is a reflection of the neighborhood. I do this with three different laundry bags that reflect the rhythm of the laundromat and the neighborhood. During the process I made many sound recordings of construction work in the street, the centrifuge of the laundromat, people in the laundromat and during knitting and sewing. From these I made a soundscape representing the rhythm of the neighborhood. I also tried to visualize this rhythm in three different laundry bags. For example, I screen-printed prints of the street and while knitting I represented the rhythm in ovals with the hold technique. The third bag I crocheted from old plastic bags, because I noticed that many people use grocery bags as laundry bags. Furthermore, I worked mainly from my own intuition and interpretation of the neighborhood where I did not want to be too strict, but rather playful and so the laundry bags became their own character/personality.
Soundscape