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The art of Múz Spaans (1996) make the passing of time tangible. He researches how evolution is embedded in the human body, and how it connects us to the material world. His work is based on the premise that the appearance of everything is already contained in the origin of the earth. With the aim of bringing the traces of time to the surface, he metaphorically peels back the evolutionary layers in his work, or instead builds them up.
The installation at Prospects consists of two sculptures that combine various organisms. Highly refined patterns have been chiselled into the surface of the first of these, the serpentine sculpture Edua (2024). The organic, rounded shapes are reminiscent of seeds or eggs: an embryonic stage. The second sculpture, Inex (2025), is made from burlap and mud and finds itself in a next growing phase; from a shell-like shape plants and leaves are reaching out into the space. They seem to be guarding their environment, as if trying to protect the vulnerable embryos next to them from external threats.
Spaans frequently experiments with natural materials and traditional techniques. Inex was, for instance, made through coiling, an ancient technique used in various cultures that involves spirally twisting a rope and then tying it up in all kinds of shapes. Both coiling and chiselling are extremely labour intensive. Spaans thus not only touches on the all-encompassing concept of evolution, but also on a more transient concept of time: the gradual development process of these handcrafted sculptures is tangible from up close.
Text: Esmee Postma
Translated from Dutch by Marie Louise Schoondergang (The Art of Translation)