Marcos Kueh – Present

Ik hou van je

PRESENT emerged from Kueh’s personal relationship with his father. Whilst reflecting on the inevitable passing of his parents, he explored the absence of a present father figure and his desire to love his father, even when they do not understand one another. Behind the fabric, he endlessly repeats the words ‘Ik hou van je’ ('I love you'). Words that are difficult to utter whilst his father is still alive, but which, within the work, take the form of a final love letter.

Installation

The installation mirrors the textile canopy of the empty four-poster bed in the Red Bedroom and invites visitors to view the cultural objects in this space with a fresh perspective. Objects such as the Imari vases, which form part of a rich historical interior here, may have held very different meanings and values in their original context. Through this, Kueh touches upon experiences of migration and uprooting, in which familiar cultural objects in a museum can feel both recognisable and alienating at the same time.

About Marcos Kueh

Marcos Kueh (1995, Sarawak, Borneo) is a Malaysian textile artist who lives and works in the Netherlands. Drawing on his background in graphic design and advertising, he explores the relationship between ancestral weaving traditions and contemporary machine-based textile production. Themes such as postcolonial identity, labour and globalisation are central to his work.