Minne Kersten

In her new installation for the Oude Kerk, Minne Kersten (1993) explores how (religious) architecture and film have shaped our imagination of ghosts and hallucinations. With a special role for the spiral staircase. Kersten: ‘The spiral staircase intrigues me as a psychological motif. It is at once a whirlpool, a trap, an ascent, and a descent.’

In her videos, installations, and paintings, Kersten shows how the architecture of a space influences memory and orientation. With ‘vignettes’ placed in the church’s side chapels, dark areas and corners are not used to emphasise the absence of light, but rather to present darkness as a tangible, tension-filled substance. There’s Always Another Twist reveals how the church space, and especially the spiral staircase, shapes collective experience, time, and perception.

Image: Minne Kersten, Wenteltrap, Oude Kerk