“I like to think about what was there before I was here, strange animals and stones that run after each other. But then I also get a bit sad when I think about that we are all going to die. But then it is nice weather outside and then I like to play in the forest. Then I forget it a little bit. When I think back I have nice memories, but I don’t know what will happen tomorrow. Maybe I will fall in love with something. Or someone, that can also happen. Don’t be stupid, no one falls in love with a thing. But why not? I am also a thing.
I always bring my swimsuit when we go on a holiday. Then I look under water to see what is there. Strange fish and sometimes there is something on the bottom, but I am scared to go deep. When there are plastic bags floating under water and I don’t get any air. Then everything is fuzzy and I’m afraid that I will disappear in it. Water is also a thing, you know. At our place the water is brown. Some people go to the moon, then the water is blue. I don’t think about breathing, but not under the water. Sometimes I have to throw up, when I swallow it. Then it goes the wrong way. Then the water is floating in me. Sometimes I think that there is a fish inside me too.”
Roderick Hietbrinks practice encompasses video installation, cinema, performance, objects and photography, exploring different aspects of the psychology and inherent conflicts between our rational and instinctive self. He finished his masters at the Piet Zwart Instituut in Rotterdam and he is a former resident of the Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten in Amsterdam.
P/////AKT would like to thank Mondriaan Fonds, Ammodo, Gemeente Amsterdam, Stadsdeel Oost, Amsterdam Fonds voor de Kunst and Office for Contemporary Art Norway.