Errors and Residuals

‘Errors and residuals’ is an ongoing series of small artist publications by Sarah Van Marcke, in which she explores the archive of Ignace D.K., a man she never knew in life. Ignace died in 2013, a few months before her parents would move into the house in the woods that was his home. In this house Van Marcke discovered Ignace’s universe, perfectly organised, ordered and orchestrated. Everything that was left behind was left for a reason; he made sure that, even after his death, everything would remain as he felt it should be.  Van Marcke uses the archive as a means of talking about our urge to exercise control and the strategies we develop to try and protect ourselves from the contingent nature of existence.          

In the part titled ‘a view’, Van Marcke examines the constituent parts of a legacy, an attempt to preserve and maintain a certain order of things even after our death, and the possible failures lurking in the reality of the future.      

In the part titled ‘a ritual’, Van Marcke observes how people sometimes use a form of fiction in an attempt to get a grip on a disrupted reality. A fiction that can be expressed in rituals, images, literature, among other forms.      

In the part titled ‘a visit’, we are invited into a meta-reality, a virtual habitat in which the clock has stopped ticking and where the order we create remains absolute – until the next update.      

The part titled ‘a plot,’ deals with the phenomenon of superstition, the instinctive tendency to find patterns in both meaningful and meaningless noise. An impulse deemed erroneous by the rational, empirical mind, which prefers scientific rationalisation over the anecdotal.   

In the part titled ‘a nest’, Van Marcke focuses on the square architectural form of birdhouses as a metaphor for the control man likes to impose on nature. Birds are invited into a seemingly perfect environment, where issues such as comfort, safety, protection and weatherability are largely taken care of and a framework is provided for the creation of perfectly square nests. With a combination of scientific precision and seemingly ritual gestures, Van Marcke dissects every nest found in Ignace’s birdhouses.       

Artist publication series

‘Errors and residuals’, Sarah Van Marcke

Part ‘a view’, edition of 250, 2018, 9€

Part ‘a visit’, edition of 250, 2018, 9€

Part ‘a ritual’, edition of 250, 2018, 9€

Part ‘a plot’, edition of 70, 2019, 15€

Part ‘a nest’, edition of 250, 2019, 9€

All five: 40€

To order:

contact@sarahvanmarcke.com

Graphic design: Context is everything

With the support of:

Researchplatorm Plot(less) of Sint Lucas Antwerp

Researchunit Intermedia Luca school of Arts Brussels

CCHA Hasselt