After being repeatedly denied access to view the 1815 Dutch Constitution at the National Archive, I made NL-HaNA_2.02.01_6056A_01 — the document's own archival catalogue number, reappropriated as the work's title. It is a sleeping bag, hand-made in silk to replicate the exact covering, colour and binding of the document I was refused. The sleeping bag is the constitution's true form: a covering for one unconscious body, offering a protection as slippery as sleep.
Composed of vocal fragments from participants in discussions and artistic research relating to Article 1 of the Dutch Constitution — the equality and non-discrimination clause. Overlaid, rewrapped, warped, reversed, layered, the sonic tapestry becomes a beating throb submerged in semiotic exchange. It loops and endures throughout the exhibition.
After being repeatedly denied access to view the 1815 Dutch Constitution at the National Archive, I made a video work that collated all the correspondence, demonstrating how bureaucratic language and institutional power hold materiality that shapes accessibility.