about the TRÜMMER exhibition

TRÜMMER was unveiled during dutch design week 2025 at ultimo intimo’s studio in sectie-c. conceived as a contemporary gesamtkunstwerk, the installation merged sound, light, fog, materiality, and scent into a single narrative – an immersive, multi-sensory experience.

the space was covered in dark soil. the scent of earth filled the air, inevitably evoking memories of graveyards. the uneven ground created unstable footing, drawing attention to the body and its fragility, and grounding visitors physically in the experience. translucent foils hung from the five-meter-high ceiling, backlit by an aggressive red light. for some, the atmosphere recalled the aesthetics of coppola’s dracula. scented fog drifted through the space as solemn church bells rang. the mood was heavy, grave, oppressive. the three works were positioned apart from one another yet remained in dialogue. there was no prescribed path – visitors were left to navigate the space intuitively, to lose and find themselves within it. short poetic texts offered fragments of meaning rather than explanation.

the installation was enriched by symbols: a forgotten wine glass referencing a presence gone; a custom wine bottle label marked with an ouroboros, evoking the eternal cycle of life, death, and renewal; withered red roses speaking of slow decay and time passing. grave candles marked remembrance, their flickering flames honoring what was lost – people, selves, futures that never arrived. tarot cards signaled the collapse of identity, while selected books stood as remnants of language and doctrine: quand les femmes tuent pointing to suppressed rage and violence born from silence, the old bible to inherited, largely unquestioned moral frameworks. gray, rocky debris from nearby construction sites lined the space in small piles; some fragments hovered in mid-air, suspended like destruction frozen in time. smaller debris pieces were offered as business cards, each embedded with an nfc tag to carry the work beyond the space.

the forty-minute soundscape, also produced by ultimo intimo, sampled church bells, demolition sounds, distant chatter, gregorian chants, and russian orthodox choirs. layered atop these were dark, intense ai-generated voices reading fragments of personal dreams and memories, blurring the line between the intimate and the anonymous.

a custom TRÜMMER smellscape, diffused through the fog, added an invisible narrative layer. haunting and atmospheric, it imprinted itself deeply into visitors’ memory. the scent will soon be released as a perfume through the online shop.

TRÜMMER (german) noun [plural] /ˈtrʏmɐ/:
ruins, debris, wreckage, fragments – the remains of something broken or destroyed.
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NOX OBSCURA ANIMAE
the dark night of the soul

to enter these ruins
is to consent to a quiet sacrifice.
here, the old self crumbles.

a descent into darkness, pain and sacrifice,
yet also a first step on the road to light.
this is nigredo, the blackening –
a confrontation with your shadow
and a letting go.

it is a quiet death of sorts:
the death of the self
you once believed yourself to be,
with all its values, dreams and certainties.

for every metamorphosis
demands a breaking.
to walk this path
is to let yourself char and blacken,
so that one day you may rise again,
with newfound clarity and purpose,
from your own debris.

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