Barbara Vinken: Earrings

Frieze Issue 11 - September/October 2013
Barbara Vinken: Earrings

This piece is created by selecting 'an item from your living or working environment, which is of particular importance for you’. Barbara Vinken has selected her ‘favourite thing’ a pair earring which are from the ‘shiniest, brightest, hardest crystal glass that is to be had in this world’. 

I particularly liked this piece, as at first sight it seemed like a strange mix of smooth marbles and roughened rocks/pebbles. However, Vinken describes these as a ‘dewdrop’ in which ‘light flashes every now and then’ enabling you to see ‘the world … in minitiare’ which ‘capture the perfect moment’ similarly to a mirror yet ‘the perfect beauty … is already vanished in the next moment’.

I think the minuscule scale of this piece is fundamental to its importance, as the tiny object captures the entire scene around you, allowing you to see both in front and behind you at the same time. However whilst looking at the front your vision is limited, whereas in the reflection you can see from the sky to deep into what appears to be a lake.

I also like the time constraints of the piece as the reflection constantly changes depending on the time of day and even if the earrings were to remain there and documented over a long period of time, no reflection would be the identical to the next. 

“The further back you can look, the farther forward you are likely to see” – Winston Churchill