Niet Vallen! / Pas Tomber!

Niet Vallen! / Pas Tomber! originated with a project François developed for a new forensic care clinic in Rotterdam in 1997. He visited the clinic hoping to open a dialogue with clients. Not to change them, but to seize the slightest opportunity for creating something creative and positive, something simultaneously monumental and fragile.

The result is an installation that circumnavigates captivity, freedom and what it means to limit another person’s humanity. The French verb found in the title, tomber, can mean ‘to fall’ in the literal sense, but can also mean to be detained by the police, to fall ill or to go mad. 

François noticed that nearly all the residents kept flowering plants in their cells, often an orchid, which was seen as a symbol of purity and beauty. He then decided to bring dandelions and stinging nettles as a gift for the clients. While some of the recipients were offended, François explained that not every part of nature is beautiful: certain plants are painful to touch and others are considered weeds. They quickly grasped the metaphor.

He also observed how difficult it is to orient yourself in an isolated prison environment, where everything looks the same and is cut off from the world. The artist suggested providing clients with a map of the facility, but the director of the clinic refused. Hoping to provide a sense of space and direction by another means, François had postcards printed with an aerial photo of the clinic. This led to the idea of doing something with the floor plan of the cells. These nondescript rooms were designed by architects and reveal nothing about the lives they contain.

He arranged for the floor plan of a cell to be carved into a huge rug. The comfortable, homely character of the soft substrate contrasts sharply with the spare, clinical nature of the cell depicted. On the ceiling, floating overhead, he applied a pattern of dandelion flowers gone to seed. These blooms are both rugged and incredibly fragile. The result elicits associations with transience, inaccessibility and the contrast between imprisonment and the ability to move freely through the world.