ROOM FOR YOU Studio Noralie eng

Studio Noralie is the artistic practice of multidisciplinary artist Noortje van den Eijnde who is based in Rotterdam. At iCOON she is planning to present: minimal installations referring to her research on bathing experiences.

For years she worked as a video designer for theater productions and music performances and currently as a light and experience artist. In her work, abstraction, rhythm and light have always played an important role in driving experience. In recent years, her focus has shifted to creating spatial installations that focus on the visitor's body. Thus she explores forms of bathing, bath culture and art that invite introspection in which use is made of (dry) and sensory media such as light, sound and movement. Studio Noralie creates spaces where people can slow down, feel and surrender - to the moment, to their bodies, to something greater. Her practice moves at the intersection of audio-visual art, and experience and is always looking for forms that bring the physical and the spiritual closer together.

For her first solo exhibition at iCOON, Studio Noralie shows a series of minimalist, physical installations that invite you to become absorbed in your surroundings. The exhibition marks the beginning of an autonomous artistry and shows a series of initial thoughts, made tangible in a series of sketchy installations that are part of an ongoing research.

The works originated from a desire to let her body disappear into her surroundings; to no longer be separated, but to dissolve into that which surrounds us. A childhood wish, rooted in childhood memories: to disappear in a pile of autumn leaves, to bury yourself in the sand, to feel the weight of a blanket when you are tucked in. The desire to want to disappear into a landscape; to become landscape itself.
What does it mean to disappear, to dissolve, to become part of something bigger? Is it an exercise in letting go, a gentle preparation for death, or rather an ultimate form of connection with everything around us? Perhaps it is a desire for equality among all that lives - a way to break free from the human and become part of something unknowable.

The context of the location - the bunker, hidden in the dunes of Hoek van Holland is thus the perfect location. iCOON is a place that literally retreats into the earth. The building embodies silence, protection, isolation. A concrete cocoon in which the works of Studio Noralie allow you to turn even further inward yourself.

The visitor is invited to experience with the whole body. To momentarily not know where the self ends and the world begins. To immerse oneself - without water. This exhibition is a first step. A series of questions in the form of installations. An attempt at disappearing, letting go, merging.