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abstract representation of rolling water and hills can be seen. of the first, colourful iteration of the SLR. The tour ends
White rayon is stretched above and the floor is black. This at the Municipal Museum in Schiedam. As can be seen in
time Maria does not use colours as in Haarlem. The first an article by Hans van der Sloot in the column Schiedam
SLR was, in her experience, seen too much as a fashionable Today in the Vrije Volk newspaper, the work is on show
conversation pit and as a playground for jumping, screaming in Schiedam in August of 1972. The article contains an
children, whereas it had been her intention to create a soft account of a meeting held inside the Soft Living Room with
landscape within which to disappear from society, a place the educational officer of the museum, Jan de Grauw, as an
where things could be questioned and barriers dropped. example of the public oriented approach of the museum.
Literally ‘a soft room’, a relaxing room with the function of In 1973 the work is purchased by Amsterdam by way of
bringing the masses in direct contact with the artwork and the BKR [Compensation Visual Arts]. The work remains in
making them aware of the possibility for relaxation that Schiedam and is gradually forgotten until many years later
exists within themselves. An environment in which you when curator, Ludo van Halen, rediscovers remnants.
don’t land hard, but soft, like Alice in Wonderland behind
the mirror. It is around this time in the early 1970s that Maria van Elk
decides to begin studying and cease making art. There is no
To emphasize the idea of reflection, the entrance to the money and no studio. She chooses to study philosophy, but
SLR 2 is limited to a small oval. The black/white colour must first complete an advanced secondary school diploma
scheme is also focussed on reflection, on contemplation of for which she begins evening classes in 1972-73. She also
the unity between two parts, light and dark, that repel each divorces Lysander Apol around this time, with the result
other, but could not exist in isolation. The light is indirect that care of her two children consumes much of her time.
and the walls and the ceiling are of ‘reassuring’ satin. In an Upon the recommendation of Bas Jan Ader, a friend of hers
interview with Erik Beenker in the Volkskrant newspaper since 1960, she reads The History of Western Philosophy by
of January 4 , 1969, she reiterates the motives for the SLR Bertrand Russell. Her interpretation of Russell in combi-
th
that she had stated in her letter to Lausanne: that the work nation with developments in her personal life leads her to
is meant as a relaxation space for people to come in contact abandon further studies.
with art and become again aware of themselves. ‘You hear
soft sounds such as sighing, your heartbeat, breathing, She remains combatant, however. In 1975, in the Museum
humming and mumbling. The hilly landscape in this closed Journal, while discussing a new instalment of the Textile
space changes continuously. The body relaxes and the mind Biennial in Lausanne with the title Chaos, she expresses
stays active.’ her frustration that the discipline remains controlled by the
idea that textiles are ‘at the periphery of art, a sort of inno-
The presence of the Soft Living Room in Lausanne in the cent hobby.’ The cause lies, she says, with museum policy.
summer of 1969 leads to many newspaper articles. Virtus She lays particular blame on the Stedelijk Museum and its
Schade publishes an extensive interview with Maria van director Edy de Wilde. The museum, she believes, holds
Elk, accompanied by a picture of her sitting on the side obstinately onto a hierarchical partition between painting,
of her work, in the Danish newspaper Berlinske Aftenasis sculpting and applied art. If De Wilde were to respond that
on the 18 of June. The writer praises her for her direction he only looks at the materials, she would answer that this is
th
setting approach and for adding a spatial dimension to a fallacy because the textile works of Tuttle, Manzoni and
textile art. From his article, it is apparent that Maria van Oldenburg must then also be included in the collection.
Elk was also playing with the idea of adding sound in the ‘But, they’re not hanging there,’ she summarises.
future.
Her article gives an impression of the tiring discussions
After the exhibition in Lausanne the SLR returns to the at the time over textile art. In this regard, the current
Netherlands, where it begins a tour of various locations: the approach taken by the Stedelijk is a deserved correction.
Faculty of Architecture at the Technical University of Eind-
hoven and the Fish Hall in Haarlem, as a black/white echo Bert Jansen

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