Maria Kapteijns - Pied de Poule

Maria Kapteijns (1965)

Patronen – Time-lapse in 2D
Pied de Poule
C-print | 72 x 72 cm | Framed 93 x 93 cm | unsigned

This work is part of the series Patronen, in which Maria Kapteijns investigates the rhythm of the city. From a bird's-eye view she looks down on busy urban squares, where people move like actors on the same stage. Each shot functions as a film still; together they form a layered composition in which time becomes visible in two dimensions.

Through repetition a game of shadow, movement and structure emerges. Individual figures dissolve into a larger whole. What at first glance seems like a snapshot turns out to be a study of collective behavior: people who seemingly go their own way, but together form patterns. The city is thus visible here as a “superorganism” – a network of interconnections, rhythms and routes.

Kapteijns’ oeuvre almost always centers on the city as a biotope. She zooms in and out: from the individual to the mass, from detail to overview. From above, groups of people become abstract shapes, almost like cells within a larger body. This abstraction gives the work a timeless and contemplative character.

It concerns a C-print from the period 2000–present, professionally framed in a black frame with a passe-partout. The work is in good condition and ready to hang.

A powerful and tranquil work in which photography, abstraction and urban dynamics come together.