Jaap Pieters Portrait

Jaap Pieters moves into a space in the Rotterdam Centrum voor Beeldende Kunst. On the walls are the contact prints of photographs that Jaap Pieters took in recent decades of his house. At fixed times, Pieters will show films from his collection on his Super-8 projector; in addition, the documentary by Fred Pelon entitled Portrait Jaap Pieters will be shown continuously.
In this documentary, Jaap Pieters, one of Holland’s most striking film makers, provides a guided tour of his ‘sliding piles’. Pieters has transformed his home in Amsterdam’s De Pijp district into a work of art. The apartment seems to be a new variation on Kurt Schwitters’ Merzbau. But whereas Schwitters meticulously puts objects from floor to ceiling in cabinets and in this way evokes a new aesthetic experience, Pieters makes piles. He makes piles and then allows gravity to do its work, so that the piles slowly start sliding. Only Pieters knows his way around. He points out to the interviewer step-by-step where he can put his feet (‘Crack. Am I standing on your toothbrush?’ ‘Yes, but never mind.’) Talking about films, Pieters and Pelon are looking for the stove, because it is cold in the apartment. Part of the programme Starting from Scratch.