Reclamation
Text and installation by Kristin Posehn
Design by Jayme Yen with Kristin Posehn
hybrid exhibition catalogue/novella
softcover, color illustrations, offset, 72 pages, edition of 500
published by the Van Eyck, Maastricht, NL, 2012
7.5 x 9.5 inches
ISBN 978-90-72076-59-5
PURCHASE
It came into my perception casually: a great big arch standing the vacant lot with its ankles in the summer grass.
Reclamation is a novella about an artwork. The wide cover, inviting text, and full color illustrations create a pleasurable reading experience.
The story blends fiction and reality into a whirl of histories—from present-day Almere, NL to the gold-rush days of Metropolis, USA.
A chance encounter with an artwork in a vacant field sparks the narrator’s curiosity. Her conversations and thoughts develop into a quest to uncover the stories and architecture of these two frontier cities.
Through her experiences, we come to appreciate the eerie parallels of Almere and Metropolis. Both suddenly arose from vast twentieth-century land reclamation projects; but Metropolis is now a ghost town, and Almere is rapidly becoming the fourth-largest city in the Netherlands.
Reclamation is based on a real artwork, formerly installed in public space in Almere, NL. The exhibition was co-produced by the Museum Paviljoens and the Jan van Eyck Academie.
Posehn’s practice dissolves architecture into sculpture and language. Her work has been exhibited in venues internationally, including the Bonnefanten Museum, NL, Netwerk Center for Contemporary Art, BE, and Aspex, UK. Her short stories have appeared in The White Review and Conjunctions. Reclamation is her first book.