Faces of the Netherlands

Who forms the face of the city? According to artist Jan Ising, it’s not just one person, but many. The diversity of the city’s residents and the variation in architecture and urban planning, in his view, determine the identity of a place.

For Faces of the Netherlands, several hundred residents from Eindhoven and the surrounding area were photographed in 2012. Their images are projected onto an inflatable mask over eight meters high. The faces are part of a flowing sequence and gradually transform into the “face” of the Netherlands.

Faces of the Netherlands is part of a large, worldwide production. In 2011, the installation was displayed in Jerusalem, and in 2012 in Berlin. With each city it visits, the work grows and eventually becomes a global network with a “universal” face.