1000 CRANES

I wanted to experience what it felt like to commit myself to an action that would cost a lot of time and effort, but would not (necessarily) generate any profit in any form from it. Being asked to come up with a new work or idea for the exhibition Diep Gaan (Going Deep), I came up with the plan to have my very own senbazuru; the Japanese tradition of folding a 1000 origami cranes for luck or good health. I personally don’t believe you can force luck or health upon yourself by doing something relatively irrelevant to your cause. But I did think this was going to be a good way to test my patience and perseverance. Senbazuru is also done amongst couples who are about to get married. If you can fold a 1000 cranes together, you would be able to withstand the difficulties of marriage. I decided to find out if I could withstand the difficulties of being stuck with just me and a lot of folding paper.

It took 16 days to fold all cranes. I kept track of my progress using a notebook; all cranes were numbered and the date and time of their completion was written down. Also, all cranes were documented in pictures through >this account on Instagram<. The performance was done as part of the exhibition Diep Gaan (Going Deep) at Galerie Sanaa, Utrecht, as part of the cultural program of the Tour de France, 2015.