Hersenschimmen
Hersenschimmen is an interdisciplinary research project into how people with dementia experience space, memory and atmosphere. The title is a Dutch word for the vague, fleeting shapes the mind conjures up, and it holds a double meaning: schimmen are shadows or ghosts, but also the mould that grows on fragile surfaces. Both meanings run through the work.
The project starts from a simple question: what happens to our sense of place when the brain can no longer hold it together? In the early stages of dementia, the systems that let us navigate and orient ourselves begin to change. The body-relative way of knowing a room (where am I, what is within reach) and the map-like way of knowing it (where is this in relation to everything else) fail in different ways. Light, shadow, texture and sound can then take on a stronger role than layout or recognisable objects. Hersenschimmen asks what a space feels like from that position, and how an artist can translate that into something visitors can walk through.
The research combines neuroscience with phenomenology. Findings on spatial navigation and perceptual change in dementia are placed alongside Max van Manen's idea of lived space, with its themes of belonging, meaningfulness, safety and autonomy. Juhani Pallasmaa's writing on haptic vision and Peter Zumthor's thinking about light as a building material are not used as decoration. They actively shape decisions about material, scale and light. The project also takes inspiration from precedents such as the Created Out of Mind programme at the UCL Dementia Research Centre.
So far the research has resulted in a zine that brings together essays, material studies, photographs and first maquette sketches. The next phase develops this into a full exhibition at Kunstruimte De Melkfabriek in 's-Hertogenbosch.