MineFace

MineFace is a public, ‘natural’ space that comes to be invaded, but eventually integrated with, the artificial constructions of art… A floor constituted of minute tiles-alluding to domestic interiors- is set within a dug pit, posing as both an artificial colonizer of the ‘natural’, as much as a discovered mine face. The word ‘mine’ that appears scattered on this floor accentuates the sense of absurdity and of displacement, both of the materials and of us, the viewers. The work entitled MineFace is also in complete discordance with its surroundings. Part of the pavement at the medieval square of the community of Zoutleeuw was removed, in order for this peculiar installation to be invasively put in its place. Hundreds of ceramic tesserae ordinarily used in domestic spaces compose an outdoor mosaic floor; once again “in” and “out” are intertwined. Placed on a lower level than that of the ground surface, the mosaic seems to lie at the bottom of a crater – caused by a meteorite? – or in the dig of a future archaeological excavation. The English word mine is repeated throughout the work’s entire surface. But, instead of solving the mystery of the mosaic “descended from the sky”, the word’s multiple meanings further confuse the already bewildered viewer, who senses that the boundaries of the public as well as of his own private space have been violated by this bizarre object. (Andrea Costantinou, Tempus, Klitsa Antoniou, On the Routes of Contemporary Art, Tempus Arti: Klitsa Antoniou, 2009)