APPORT

 

Fresh Flowers, Synthetic Fragrance, 183 x 150 x 150 cm, 2014

 

This work was inspired by the 'apport' medium Anne Rothe. Apport mediumship is the act of supernaturally transporting objects often described as plucking from thin air. “In March 1902, two officers from the Berlin police force interrupted the medium Anna Rothe in the act of plucking first a hyacinth and then a narcissus flower out of thin air. They grabbed Rothe's hands, wrestled her to the ground, and whistled to bring several more policemen pouring into the room. As the other séance participants watched in horror, a female police assistant subjected Rothe to a physical examination that revealed 157 flowers as well as several oranges and lemons tucked under her petticoat. Placed under arrest and charged with fraud, Rothe spent most of the next year in jail awaiting trial.”