SKAR's new office has fifteen meters of windows and something had to be done with them. Visual artist Astrid Moors knew what: a window painting with yogurt. A tip from Astrid to the people: you can paint with yogurt. On glass. It works quickly, it dries quickly, it doesn't stink and it comes off in no time. That's handy, because the painting is only on the office window for two months. After that it disappears to make room for the work of another artist.
The meter-long window mural depicts a progression from trees to flats. "Right now I'm fascinated by trees and houses. And especially trees."
Astrid does not have to retreat to a cabin in the woods to feel connected to this subject. In the middle of the city, in her studio on Lange Hilleweg, that's best: "I cycle six kilometers through the Zuiderpark every day. I encounter trees every day." She has also created work about some of those trees on her bike route, which Astrid calls her favorite trees. For example, there is a tree that "when it was small had these support sticks with these rubber lines, so it didn't blow over." The connection between nature and man is what makes it interesting to Astrid: "like we are holding that tree."
And when you are so concerned with the relationship between man and tree, it does do something to you when trees are taken down in front of your studio without notice. "They grab such a tree, tzzzzzt, over, and through the shredder. Really absurd. I called the municipality to ask: what's going on?" Astrid gestures outside, beyond the windows of her studio: "This is a green zone that should continue into the Zuiderpark, so actually they shouldn't be cut down at all."
That happened two months ago, when Astrid was working on her latest project. This involved a crowdfunding where, in return for participants, the artist made portraits of their homes as well as a tree. Participants were asked to submit a story telling about the connection between them, their homes and a tree. "I thought I already have so much with houses and trees, now I want to know the stories directly from people as well," he said. From the creation process and the stories behind it, Astrid is going to make a documentary. "I think I have something like 80 gig of material, so I'll be busy with that for a while."
That documentary, it has to be finished first. And after that? "Houses and trees are still in my system. But maybe I'll do something completely different, that's the advantage of working autonomously." What is certain: the combination of nature and man, that remains fun. Or no, "fun" is not the right word after all, Astrid thinks. "It doesn't cover it." In any case, something is happening there, in the exciting relationship between man and nature. Sometimes language falls short of giving that "something" a name. Fortunately, we have the visual arts for that.