During The Rijksakademie Open Studios in 2021 an inflatable sculpture of 200 meters of grey tubing, unfolding, revealing, extending, incapsulating the physical beings of the performer. Rex Collins, Peter Cripps Clarks and Lasse Koemans animated "How to catch an octopus in a broken heart" for 11 days, 4 hours per day. Continuously creating new shapes, sometimes a landscape, a spider, a diagram, an octopus, intestines of the building; underlining the architectural elements of the platform at the Rijksakademie connecting the old and the new building, the stomach of the institution. Fun fact: Rebeccas nails coincidentally or serendiptiously had pussy inscripted on them! During the open studios I had the Great pleasure to view and review, getting into all kinds of different states of perception and associations, like diving into the ocean being submerged by non earthly creatures and through watching tube TV, as I like to call it, being able to be mesmerised.
The title of the work comes from the medical term for broken heart symptom, as the heart because of grief/loss/heartaches changes shape. The heart is the only human bodypart that can change shape. The shape is referred to as a Japanese vase, and this vase is used to catch octopuses in.
The work has been performed during Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten Open Studio 2021, Lentekabinet Festival in Amsterdam in 2022 and during Frieze Art Week at Sommers Gallery in London; curated by Rosie Gibbens "Being Both Things At Once" in 2021.