De Torenkamer (2017)


I participated in a Dutch artist-in-residency program of 5 days called “De Torenkamer”. This residency is part of the radioshow: Opium and takes place in a beautiful tower room at the Vondelpark in Amsterdam. My plan for the program was to walk and investigate two pilgrimages in Amsterdam and take my findings to create my own sanctuary in “De Torenkamer”. 

I first made my way from the torenkamer to the Chapel of “The Lady of All Nations”. People from all over the world visit this Chapel that is hidden in the extension of an expensive villa, given to the cause by Gertrude Brenninkmeijer, member of the wealthiest family in the Netherlands and a true believer.

The Lady of all Nations, or as most people know her: Mary, came to Ida Peerdeman (1905-1996) in an apparition for the first time when she was 12 years old.

During her life Ida Peerdeman was visited by Mary 56 times. Although not commonly known in the Netherlands, you could compare the magnitude of this apparition with that of Lourdes. Journalists and devotees even refer to Amsterdam as “Lourdes by the Amstel”.

The second pilgrimage I walked is known as “The Miracle Procession”, a walk through the centre of Amsterdam in honour of a miraculous wafer. The story goes that on March 15th 1345, a man lay ill in bed in his house on the Kalverstraat. He was about to die. A priest administered to the last rites, including the blessed sacrament. After receiving the wafer, the man became sick and vomited in the fire. The next morning the wafer was discovered in the fire, undamaged. It was put into a box and taken by the priest to the parish church, but on two occasions miraculously made its way back to the house on Kalverstraat. This was the beginning of a tradition known as “The Miracle Procession”.

When it comes to Spirituality, nobody can say what is real and what’s not.  

I took pictures trying to find out what kind of miraculous powers the Torenkamer possessed.
I displayed these pictures in a labyrinth I made in De Torenkamer. In order to create my own Pilgrimage.

 
The Chapel of the Lade of all Nations:



Torenkamer:

Pilgrimage Lady of all Nations:

The Miracle Procession:

Pictures: