M HKA Ensembles

Installation, 21:00 min.

Collection: Courtesy De Vleeshal, Middelburg (The Netherlands) (Inv. no. VH0320).

Be it with her paintings, drawings or performance pieces, the multi-layered work of Sara van der Heide (b. 1977) always leaves room for a variety of interpretations. She treasures this openness; each image simultaneously has diverse layers of meaning awaiting potential discovery. This 'simultaneity' is particularly made manifest as a strategy in her piece *Art History* (2011). The work consists of two slide carousels, each with eighty graphic images of red, white and black drawings that Sara van der Heide has alternate in an automated projection. As for the technique of presentation, the endless series of slides is reminiscent of traditional academic classes in art history from the past. The abstract drawings refer back to constructivism and abstract expressionism, but also to so-called 'primitive' art and applied design.