StartPoint Prize 2016

Suzie van Staaveren

The notion of a statue is associated with something solid, occupying a firm place and position in space. The works of Suzie Van Staaveren do take place in space, but it seems as if they are loath to dominate it, and instead, allow the space to permeate them. The result is a peculiar combination of physical presence and lack of solidity. The separate elements are clearly presented, but something else is needed for their presence to be substantiated. The missing element is action, contact, and movement. Van Staaveren’s sculptures invite viewers to hold them, move them to another location, and to use them. Sports and arts are as a rule far removed from one another, but Suzie van Staaveren is not squeamish about the connection. Her ceramic circles could be gymnastic circles, just as her other sculptures could double as parallel bars or hoops. At times functional, at times not, the movement can also take place only in our head, and at that very moment the statue turns from an abstraction into an object.