“Never odd or even” can be read from left to right and right to left. The word palindrome – which is what this fascinating phenomenon is called – comes from Greek language, where “palin” means “to return”, “to go back on your own trace”, and “dromos” means “the way”. Palindromes date back at least to 79 A.D., when a Latin word square – a sort of graffiti – was found at Herculaneum, buried by ash in that year. Palindromes require quite some flexibility from the reader; while the correct sequence of characters is there, the spacing may not be. It works with numbers as well – palindromes can be formed from almost any number by adding the original number to its reverse form. For example, 47 is not a palindrome. If you add 47 + 74 (the reverse of the original number), you get 121, which is a palindrome. And, last but not least: they are also connected to the origin of life. Palindrome sequences are required for the recombination of DNA molecules. This show takes “neveroddoreven” as its title, because – as with art and as with most group shows – you can invest time in thinking about what it may mean, as you can try to construct implied meaning from spatially organized relations. Or, you can perhaps think about the game with words or numbers that functions backwards as well as forwards.
The exhibition is accompanied by a publication with contributions by the artists. Design & concept: Nienke Terpsma, Jack Henrie Fisher. Available from the reception desk at TENT.
Every year, the Stichting Promotieprijs awards the Promotieprijs to one of the graduates of the Piet Zwart Institute. Former winners are Katarina Zdjelar, Rafael Freyre Mendieta, Gunndis Yr Finnbogadottir.
The exhibition opens on Friday 10 July at 20:00 hrs at TENT., and finished on August 23 2009. For more information, visit the TENT. website or the Piet Zwart website.
