Cultural (Mis)translation
Dutchoiserie reverses the logic of chinoiserie, the European tradition of imagining and reconstructing China through objects, images and decorative arts. Rather than asking how Europe pictured China, the project turns the direction of looking around: what might happen if Dutch visual culture were interpreted, fragmented and reimagined through a Chinese perspective?
The project brings together historical references from 17th and 18th century Dutch tiles, Chinese material traditions and contemporary making processes. Images migrate across materials and contexts: ceramic motifs become embroidery on silk, porcelain is combined with glass, and familiar domestic objects are reconstructed into hybrid forms.
Rather than seeking an accurate fusion of two traditions, Dutchoiserie focuses on what happens when translation remains incomplete. Misreading, repetition and material displacement become productive tools, allowing objects to move between familiarity and estrangement, cultural specificity and ambiguity.
