Mi fen’na Gowtu book

Mi fen’na Gowtu, a book about gold and art, hardcover with gold foil printing, 128 pages fullcolour. 28,5cm x 17,5cm. Texts in German, English and Dutch amongst others. By Drs. P, George Moormann, Felix Schöber, Cor Gout, Lucette ter Borg, Bow Wasinondh, Wim Noordhoek, Pieter Zandvliet, Willem Middelkoop, Birthe Leemeijer, Sanneke van Hassel, etc.
The book, just like the exposition, tells the story of a 3-year long research in gold that brought me through 3 continents for inspiration and knowledge, which I’ve used to create art pieces.

The book was presented by the Solo show in Museum Kraneburgh

“In the renovated Museum Kranenburgh in Bergen, the large gold project of the Swiss Moritz Ebinger is present. As a child, he played in an abandoned gold mine in the Swiss Malcatone. Everything was still there: rails, mine shafts, even an office with correspondence.

He took a lot home with him and still owns it. That is how his search for the meaning of gold began. Which led via alchemy (the gold makers) to art. Moritz spoke to gold diggers, chemists, smugglers, jewelers. At the Documenta, he already had visitors embroider figures on his suit with borrowed gold thread. In Bergen, they are allowed to search for gold themselves with shovels and kitchen sieves.

After two years of searching, he found what he was looking for in Thailand: in Asia, Buddha statues have been covered with gold leaf by visitors to temples for centuries, so that layers form, so thick that you can only guess at the original shape and abstract sculptures are created.

The monks explained to him that it was something like the halo in Christianity. Gold brings luck. With this difference: real gold was not needed for this ritual, they said. On the contrary. Displaying wealth was considered insulting to the deity. Faith was enough. So that the poor could also participate in the ritual. Imitation gold was therefore better.

ps. The extraordinary book with gold art by Moritz and gold stories by numerous Dutch writers has been published.”