On the verge of vertigo, 2023
Commissioned by: Through The Window Project 2023, Istanbul

When ground beneath our feet suddenly starts shaking,
cracks appear in the landscapes we once called home,
with nothing left to hold on to while we trip and tumble,
arms stretched out in fear of what is yet to come –
What happens when we flounder and fall?
Balancing on the verge of vertigo.

With his new work On the verge of vertigo, artist Rik Dijkhuizen reflects on ‘queer dizziness’ and the notion of falling. Living through the experience of sudden destabilisation and the loss of certainty and support, queer bodies are being forced to negotiate and navigate a world that condemns otherness and pushes them to the margins of society, with nothing left to hold on to. Their world is taken away from under their feet because they challenge dominant cultural norms and embody a supposed threat to established authoritarian regimes — leaving them to flounder and fall, but with no soft ground to land onto in sight. This notion also ties in with the recent earthquakes in Turkey, shaking up houses, landscapes, and everything we hallowed and believed in — making this experience even more relevant and universal for people in the region. Our lives are ‘up in the air’: tumbling through shattered realities and reliabilities, we exist trapped and suspended in mid-air, not knowing where we end up after the fall.

The installation, consisting of a sculpture, photo work and film, brings together a wide array of references, most notably David Wojnarowicz’ Untitled (Buffalo), which uses a group of buffalo’s falling from a cliff to a certain death as a visual metaphor for society’s lack of care for queer people at a time them HIV/AIDS ran rampant in their community. Another main source of inspiration is Aristide Maillol’s L’air. This monumental sculpture of a nude figure, perched delicately on its right hip, is a personification of air and seems to defy gravity, teetering between immobility and movement. This figure lives in-between realities, like so many of us.

Technical specifications:
Sculpture: 170x70x70 cm, powder coated metal, clay, wood, Dutch boulder stone
Photowork: 200×110 cm print
Film: 3:00 minute 4K digital film

Credits:
Courtesy of the artist
Sculpture metalwork: Michiel Poelmann
Video sound design: Hugo Boccara
Video colorist: Wisse Kodde
Video assistance: Hedwig Vervoort

Made possible by: Prins Claus Fonds, private sponsoring