Provisory Object 03

Like the pieces ‘Provisory Object 01’ and ‘Provisory Object 02’, Dekyndt’s video shows the membrane of a soap bubble, in this case stretched between the thumb and finger of a hand. Depending on the way the light falls, colours and shapes appear in the reflections from its surface; once in a while a drop falls down, and after two minutes the ‘bubble’ finally bursts.

Despite the banality and simplicity of this scenario, the fluidity of the soap membrane takes on a poetic and metaphoric dimension in Dekyndt’s work – bringing to mind the instability of social relations and the precariousness of human’s place in the world. The video was recorded in Kinshasa, and as a result the gesture it presents suggests other layers of meaning too; the bubble becomes a jewel or treasure, a metaphor for the riches buried underneath the ground in the area and the hands meanwhile seem to craddle this valuable object, guarding it before it suddenly vanishes into air.