Job KOELEWIJN, No Matter - Try Again - Fail Again - Fail Better. Rotterdam (The Netherlands)

© herve bechy

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The Dutch artist Job Koelewijn (1962) installed a 45 metres long and 2 metres wide text - piece in the waters of the Westersignel canal. He used the canal’s waters as a white page on which words can be written in water and air. The text is fleeting, volatile, like a poem. Pre-programmed letters appear when an under-water mechanism is triggered (a hose pipe with holes) and sends bubbles of air up to the surface that create a shimmer on the water surface causing words to appear. The eight words that constitute the sentence “No Matter - Try Again - Fail Again - Fail Better” (Samuel Beckett) are legible from the canal bank. The mechanism operates intermittently. At times the water’s surface returns to normal then the mechanism is actioned again. Job Koelewijn is renowned for his temporary objects and installations. This canal project is also to be temporary. It will last as long as the mechanism that makes the letters appear and disappear remains operational.