Katja Prins | By Default

By Default

Actually, man never managed on his own. ‘The flesh is weak’, and on top of that, it is also vulnerable and susceptible to aging. So we have to rely on pills and powders, on wheels and walking sticks. Helas, that’s not all: even our psyche can use a little nudge every now and then. The latest, miraculous aids that nowadays have become available to young and old alike – computers and mobile phones – are not only assets, they also may pose problems. With their profusion of possibilities and information they can cause doubt, anxiety and insecurity; not to mention the effects of fake-news or malicious intrigue. Man undeniably needs support. The existing range of implements, from the age-old flint stones to ultra-modern titanium joints, is but child’s play compared to the prospects researchers conjure up about the future. For it seems everything concerning body and spirit can eventually be repaired or supplemented. Shall we really reach a point where we’ll no longer have to muddle through? Katja Prins is intrigued by the inescapable interaction between man, science and technique. In this arena the ancient, yet always remarkably vague, divide between good and bad, plays an important part. Which position to take in an ambivalent situation? Is it justified to be optimistic, or is that attitude even for reaching a solution? With the new group of jewellery pieces Prins developed during the past year, she moved into the transitional sphere between akin and alien. Appropriating systems and materials made to support human beings, she produced a kind of emblems that will keep the people who'll wear them conscious of their dependency. Man sadly lacks a default mode, a situation guarantying an evident, unhindered continuation of being. It is similar to the position of fish, oblivious of the fact that the water is essential to their existence. It is a topic that has always been part of Katja Prins' creative practice, as she puts it herself: '...from the very beginning of our evolution, man has been a technically hybrid being'.

Ward Schrijver, art historian and architect, Amsterdam, NL (© Galerie Rob Koudijs)
Photography: Merlijn Snitker