Tulip Mania
Designer Hilde Koenders drew her inspiration for the installation Tulip Mania from the ‘tulip mania’, which took place in the Netherlands during the Dutch Golden Age. In those days, the tulip bulbs were transported from Turkey to the Netherlands. Here, the bulbs were sold for ever-higher prices. This led to what many call the first economic bubble.
Hilde’s installation is a reaction to both that period and the current time, in which history repeats itself. It is a series of six abstract faces that consist of dried tulip petals, enlarged and printed on drapes of silk. Prior to drying, the petals are dyed with strong pigments, which creates a clear linear pattern of veins. Combined with the movement of the silk cloth, this changes the expression of the faces. Hilde refers to the insane time of the ‘tulip mania’ and the contradictory properties of the Dutch: frugality and a propensity for gambling.