ALIEN OOSTING
In the initial stage Oosting is very receptive to the space. Without following a preconceived plan, she concentrates on the shapes already present in the room: a vaulted ceiling, an old wooden door or a window. She tries to focus wholly on the perception of these shapes. She then adds her own shapes using simple materials she can apply on site. For example, she adds a column that merges with the existing architecture, or the construction of the ceiling is repeated in three dimensions on the floor in plaster of Paris. With great sensitivity these artificial interventions make the specific spatial features of the site very apparent. A harmonious or tense relationship between existing and added elements is created. This process of observation and intervention and it can go on for weeks at a time is followed by a presentation.The work can only be fully experienced by the observer when physically present in the environment, and for the duration of the exhibition. He finds himself in a space which, as a result of the interventions, is a cross between reality and fiction, and between a real place and an artificial environment. It is impossible to replace the physical experience of the space with photos or video images. The end of the presentation irrevocably results in the end of the work.
In the FLACC arts centre Alien Oosting set to work in two cellars. One of them was formerly used for storing coal. By sweeping up the coal dust and mixing it with plaster she created a reflection of the light on the floor, which completely transformed one?s experience of the space. This modest intervention had a great expressive power while at the same time also alluding to the regions mining history.
Peter Pollers, publicatie Platform Limburg 2006