Ambiguity points to the mystery of all reveiling

About

The backbone of Harm van den Dorpel’s practice is formed by the development of, and publishing on, online information systems. In these systems human intuitive activity and selfprogrammed algorithms play an equally important role. 

According to Van den Dorpel, he employs a ’method of ontological inversion’. The (en) framing of a collage becomes the collage itself, and representation of the sculpture becomes the essence of the work. Associations between texts and images remain radically unfinished yet evolve over time.

Drawing from his background as software developer, he created a series of large whiteboards, often employed in the planning of software and organisation of developer teams (methodologies called ‘Scrum’ or ‘Kanban’). The boards are covered with magnetic items, marker drawings and digital prints. Within their set template, they remain reconfigurable.

Exhibited alongside these are a series of shrink wrapped digital collages. The shrink wrap is partially transparent and overheated, creating see-through holes in its surface. Encapsulating the work suggests an attempt to freeze and prevent it from further mutation, while at the same time refers to commercial packaging where the technique is used to aid further circulation as commodity. *

The title of the show is taken from an essay by Heidegger: “The Question Concerning Technology”.