Mneme XXVII: Dolhuis [Madhouse]

This installation in the Dutch city of Nijmegen entailed a floor maze with German commentary about the Netherlands. The maze structure was mirrored onto the walls and intertwined with site plans from three eras as well as historical and theoretical quotes in English and Nederlands. The back wall was the site as Roman graveyard. The right wall showed the medieval monastery that functioned as a  plague house and later as an asylum, while the left wall bore the 19th century bank of lending (the current building). The structure in the center was a recreation of one of the cells from the asylum. The site history and similarity of the Dutch “dolhuis” (meaning “madhouse”) to “dollhouse” drove the concept of the piece as an investigation of the intersection of faith, madness and money, with a central concern as to the nature of what constitutes home.