Continuum brooch 14

Description

The meaning of Prins’s pieces is not clear or unequivocal either. They are ambiguous objects to be worn on the hand as an extension of the finger or frontally on the chest as a mirror of one’s inner self. She prefers to keep the beholder guessing with her work: ‘I think astonishment is important because it stimulates the imagination. I don’t understand many of the things that fascinate me, but I can still marvel at them. I can then add my own style to the fantasy.’

The pictorial elements making up the work are like musical notes that have been arranged to form a harmonious whole like a fugue full of chords and counterpoint. Dissonance is never heard. Occasionally, the void between the elements does provide a pleasant sense of repose.

The pieces making up the Continuum series only really come into their own when they are worn. ‘After all, man, more particularly his body, is the measure of all things,’ says Prins. The empty spaces in the works are filled by a living being. The pipes are then connected to the wearer’s own circulation like bypasses. The pieces absorb energy and are transformed from purely decorative elements to advanced medical objects to which Prins has added poetry, life and, most importantly, beauty.

Thimo te Duits, design curator Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam, NL
Photography: Francis Willemstijn