Page 65 - 1968 ... 2013 Soft Living Room

It was a painful absence, but in the mean time Maria van Despite this, the Municipal Museum of Schiedam still
Elk had taken a new path. She taught for many years at took the necessary measures. They disinfected the work
the AKI (Academy of Art and Industry) in Enschede. It and then packed and transported it to an art storage depot
turned out that there was high demand for breaking the in Rotterdam. It is not clear, however, whether the work
old partitions between disciplines. She began the new was complete at this point.
department ‘Mixed Media’ and guided, with intense
pleasure, generations of AKI students who were active in The rediscovery of the Soft Living Room was wonderful
numerous media. news for Maria van Elk and contained even more promise
than just the works’ whereabouts. Ludo van Halem
In her own work, she preferred more subtle gestures. Clear continued: ‘…The Municipal Museum of Schiedam is
movements, the richness of line on paper. Or the creation willing to take on the consequences of years of neglect and
of monumental works. Again in the public space, but wishes to restore the work in such a way that it can again
now related to architecture. She describes her work from be shown.’ The ICN will support the restoration and states
the seventies in a note: ‘Since the beginning of the seventies that the work is to be included in the museum collection.
the figuration of the material itself played a central role in
my work. This came forth from a need for images without It takes until early 2000 before a meeting is held at the
connotation or second meaning… Concrete, clear images that museum between Aleth Lorne, freelance restorer at the
speak for themselves and require neither translation nor clar- ICN, Ludo van Halem and Maria van Elk. A comprehen-
ification. It is what you see... I love images that originate in sive report, with photographs, was made by Aleth Lorne.
research like material tests, colour swatches and experiments.’ She begins with a description of the work: ‘The work is a
(From statement The Emancipation of the Material, 1986) closed space with ‘as entrance’ a circular opening in the
wall. The space has sixteen sides. The wall is made of chip-
Henk Peeters recognised in the work of Maria van Elk the board with angle iron and covered with black-and-white
force of the ‘minimal’ in which so much can be expressed satin. The floor inside the space is a mattress with a slip-
(Sometimes I See Nothing, 1986). cover of black artificial fur. On the upper side, the work is
enclosed with white satin. Inside the space, there are eight
The Soft Living Room was mentioned regularly, but the bulbous forms of soft polyurethane foam. The artist refers
work seemed to have disappeared without a trace. That to them as ‘hills’. The ‘hills’ are covered with black-and-
is, until the fall of 1997, when Ludo van Halem, then white artificial fur. It is the intention that the public enters
Curator of Modern Art and Chief of Museum Services the space. In this way, the public experiences for itself the
at the Municipal Museum of Schiedam, stumbled upon softness of the shapes and materials.’
parts of a textile work when cleaning out a storage space
at the museum. In a letter to Maria van Elk, he wrote: Thanks to an extensive description of the components,
‘… after some detective work, this piece of art turned made by Maria van Elk in 1969 for the transportation of
out to be your installation the Soft Living Room that, the work to Switzerland, an inventory could be made of
according to our information, belongs to the Institute the present and missing parts. The latter consisted mainly
Collection of Netherlands (ICN). After a traveling exhibi- of construction parts such as wooden sheeting, slats, nuts
tion, with the Museum of Schiedam as its end point, your and screws. The most notable damage is dirt on the artifi-
piece appears to have remained here ever since.’ cial fur and the underside of the wall.

At the ICN, the work was listed with inventory number The conclusion was a twofold recommendation: passive
SZ 80357, but was marked in their files as lost. and active conservation and restoration. For the purposes
of preservation and conservation the work must be care-
Many municipal purchases made within the framework of fully packed. To repair the damage, restoration was
the BKR were later taken over by the State. The SLR was deemed necessary in combination with the replacement of
not listed, however, as a loan in the files of the museum. the missing parts. However, for the work to be presented

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