Lotus Rooijakkers

My name is Lotus Rooijakkers Plaizier, a Rotterdam-based artist creating installations, objects, and paintings. Inspired by people from all walks of life. From firefighters to darters, I try to find what's been hiding in everyday life. My art shows an affinity with "object-oriented ontology," a theory developed by philosopher Graham Harman. This theory holds that objects have an independent existence, separate from the human perspective. It questions the central role that traditional philosophy has assigned to the human viewpoint. I work with installations made from everyday objects that are often taken for granted, yet play a fundamental role in daily life. Often I visualise an object that I want to place in a new context. Before I can do that, usually I need to have at least a hundred copies of that object before I present it. I believe there is power in repetition. Recently, I put up a dartboard and threw 150 darts. The work is called Triple 20 because it's the highest reachable score and I only hit it once. It is an ode to the pub, a place where people have been gathering for decades, transcending age and gender. It is a familiar setting where the scent of beer and wood blends with nostalgic games of darts and sports matches on old television screens, tilted slightly above the bar. At the same time, the dartboard symbolizes a past era of brown cafés and local regulars, which are increasingly being replaced by flashy, conceptual cafés. These new places reflect a society that moves faster and feels more fragmented. Cultural philosopher Walter Benjamin, in his distinction between "experience" and "perception," already warned about what we now call the "experience economy" which is the culture of selling experiences as products. I try to draw attention to cultural traditions and everyday objects, showing them in new ways to make people see them differently.