...but now it needs to be done...
...but now it needs to be done... (2007-2011) is a project that presents an artistic mission undertaken by Nabuurs and Van Doorn in which they visited seventeen locations across six European countries, all of which have been places of trauma during and after WW2 (1942 to 1947) and have shaped Post-war Europe. The project aims to restore the dimensions of a traumatic “journey” experienced by Van Doorn’s Grandfather during these years.
... but now it needs to be done..., video
The title Ik weet niet... (I don’t know) is not only an explicit reference to the words spoken aloud by the protagonist in this video. It also implies a profound link with Van Doorn’s life history and, in particular, with his childhood memories. The text spoken aloud by Nabuurs is a collection of different ways to express ‘not knowing,’ a state experienced by Nabuurs and Van Doorn during their research on this topic.
...but now it needs to be done, interventions
In each location the artists present a ‘minimal intervention’ designed as an act of ritual penance for rehabilitation. Every penance uses an object inscribed with a Fatima Catholic prayer as a source of pain. The artists refer to these acts as “an exercise in submission”.
...but now it needs to be done, objects
Carved Relics is a collection of sculptural objects used by the artists to perform the seventeen acts of penance. Each object is carved with the Fátima Catholic prayer as discovered in Van Doorn’s Grandfather’s attic. The artists consider religious structures to be at the foundation of the problems related to power and authority; The Carved Relics act as energy containers creating a dialogue between the artist’s body at work and the landscape itself. In their non- operational mode, the Carved Relics present the presence of a miraculous manifestation.
...but now it needs to be done..., x 100
The series of scratched photographs x100 is closely related to the video-series documenting public interventions performed by the artists in six European countries, as a kind of a penance, or an exercise in submission. The same repentant dimension is manifested by the photographs; the locations depicted can be seen as lieux d’oubli, which have been deprived of their meaning either as a result of passive or active modes of forgetting. The role of photography, devised to document events of great importance or treasure precious moments, is here compromised as the images attempt to retrieve (or reconstruct) the unwanted memories, suppressed by the post-war strive for progress.