Middle Gate

The cluster of works titled Dropstein (derived from the German: Tropfsteinhöhle) developed out of a journey to the stairs of the Bronze Age city of Mycenae in Greece. It comprises a series of photos and a performance, based on stalactite forms inside caves. The work symbolises the idea that you become what you experience, like the way stalactites gradually grow through the flow of mineral deposits in water that build on top of the old ones. The stalactite images resemble stairs and passageways leading into the depths of caves. They were subsequently used in the Dropstein performance, for which the images were turned into a costume.

 “Matyn processes the knowledge and experience she gains, during her travels for example, into what she calls a second skin, a costumed character. She collects stories, anecdotes, found imagery, elements of nature, … all of this feeds her and allows her to come closer to het surroundings. The characters that emerge from this process perform actions that reflect an experience of her travels or, they restage rituals and ancient customs that transport us to an enchanted world in which boundaries between humans and animals, between nature and culture were not drawn sharply. One of these characters is ‘Dropstein’, a stalactite that takes the form of what he has experienced, modeled after a stalactite cave that shapes and takes it form over time. These characters form, in her own words, a kind of portal, a passageway that leads us beyond the usual black and white way of thinking into a world that is not dominated by a soulless material and rational approach.” - Maaike Lauwaert, 2014