Marielle Videler - You Don't Know Where You Are Going

You Don't Know Where You Are Going
2013 - 2014

project and installation, solo exhibition, de Oude Kerk, Amsterdam
four woven blankets, wool and cotton
size blankets 1.87 x 1.59 m

In the course of 2013 Mariëlle Videler visited a number of Amsterdam residents. She brought a empty suitecase, a metronome and a handmade ‘divination book’: concertina fold, stitched, with cut out texts, ink and pencil drawings. “You have 45 minutes to leave, you don’t know where you are going, you don’t know whether you’ll ever return here”, Mariëlle Videler read to them upon her arrival, and after every first round of packing she returned twice. This produced a series of fascinating conversations and encounters, which were documented in text.
Simultaneous to the encounters with the suitcase, Mariëlle Videler researched concepts of travelling. She was touched by the contrast between travel by nomads, refugees and tourists. In reference to nomadic life and inspired by old photographs of travellers using blankets for travel bags, she created a series of woollen blankets. The design is based on a rectangular grid: the lines along which a blanket can be folded. Within this grid Mariëlle Videler adapted 27 different tribal patterns from around the globe. The blankets were woven at the TextielMuseum, Tilburg, from wool yarn in black, white and shades of gray, each with its own hue of red cotton. The red colours are mainly visible on one side of the blankets.

A selection of the ‘travellers’ conversations was compiled in a publication (Dutch/English)


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	You Don't Know Where You Are Going 2013 - 2014 project and installation, solo exhibition, de Oude Kerk, Amsterdam four woven blankets, wool and cotton size blankets 1.87 x 1.59 m In the course of 2013 Mariëlle Videler visited a number of Amsterdam residents. She brought a empty suitecase, a metronome and a handmade ‘divination book’: concertina fold, stitched, with cut out texts, ink and pencil drawings. “You have 45 minutes to leave, you don’t know where you are going, you don’t know whether you’ll ever return here”, Mariëlle Videler read to them upon her arrival, and after every first round of packing she returned twice. This produced a series of fascinating conversations and encounters, which were documented in text. Simultaneous to the encounters with the suitcase, Mariëlle Videler researched concepts of travelling. She was touched by the contrast between travel by nomads, refugees and tourists. In reference to nomadic life and inspired by old photographs of travellers using blankets for travel bags, she created a series of woollen blankets. The design is based on a rectangular grid: the lines along which a blanket can be folded. Within this grid Mariëlle Videler adapted 27 different tribal patterns from around the globe. The blankets were woven at the TextielMuseum, Tilburg, from wool yarn in black, white and shades of gray, each with its own hue of red cotton. The red colours are mainly visible on one side of the blankets. A selection of the ‘travellers’ conversations was compiled in a publication (Dutch/English)