Trained as a theatrical designer, Sunny van Zijst is interested in drama. Drama, in the original Doric sense of the term, is not the action itself; instead, it concerns the occurrence on which myths and legends base their cults. For such an 'occurrence' to happen, a public is needed – people who go along with the tacit agreement to believe in something and to join in the game. The symbols and ceremonies are clear to all: the visitor or participant believes in his role and is ready to let his emotions go. And fluctuating between fear and goose-bumps on the one hand and emotion and relief on the other, he shivers and shudders along as the action unfolds, in a state of the utmost pleasure. It is thanks to this mechanism that fairs, pageant-plays, puppet shows, fairy tales, circuses and theatrical objects such as reliquaries, altars and collections of curiosities are able to function. 'Ladies and gentlemen! Behold, look on, and feel your flesh creep ...'

'My latest work is a series of installations which are expanded still further under the title Magnum Opus. It is a series the origins of which lie in alchemy, the quest for eternal life, gold, and the transformation of matter or persons into the purest, most unadulterated and valuable form. The alchemical processes begin by making things black, then red and, finally, gold. A number of elements play a central role in these works: the table serves as an altar, sacrificial block, laboratory, dining table and meeting-place; the chair functions as a throne, as a place to sit for a solitary old fisherman, as a dining-room chair or as a surgeon's examination chair. The form, dimensions and number dictate the role and significance of these meeting-places. The trees serve as a reference to the symbolic meeting-place where anything can happen, and the wood as magic primeval forests with the sacred tree as the ultimate symbol of eternal life. No matter how dead a branch may be, it accommodates worms, grubs, beetles and other creepy-crawlies. Nothing is lost, nothing wasted. Life is one big parasitic whole.'

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