Domestic Cave
is an installation that blends the concept of domesticity with the raw presence of concrete, creating a meditation on confinement, memory, and the subconscious. The work consists of a bed alongside a sculptural element resembling a basement, cast entirely in concrete. This juxtaposition raises questions about the psychological dynamics of domestic space—how spaces designed for comfort can also carry the weight of isolation and repression.
The bed, traditionally a symbol of intimacy and safety, contrasts sharply with the cold, industrial concrete, suggesting a sense of confinement rather than comfort. Concrete, associated with strength and permanence, here becomes a material that isolates and traps, transforming the bed’s role from one of vulnerability to one of entrapment. This inversion forces the viewer to reconsider domestic spaces, asking if they are truly sanctuaries or, in some cases, prisons.
The basement, a symbolically significant space in Western culture, serves as a metaphor for the unconscious. Gaston Bachelard, in The Poetics of Space (1958), describes basements as places where repressed memories, forgotten objects, and emotions are stored. He argues that these hidden spaces are connected to the unconscious mind, often containing elements of human experience that are suppressed. In Domestic Cave, the concrete basement functions as a representation of this repressed realm, a place where emotional and psychological content is buried, awaiting re-engagement.
Bachelard’s analysis suggests that spaces like basements are deeply linked to our sense of self, especially regarding memory and the unconscious. He writes that "the basement is the place where memory sleeps, sometimes for a long time," emphasizing its connection to the forgotten or repressed. In this light, the basement in Domestic Cave serves as a symbolic container for these hidden aspects of the psyche, while the bed becomes a threshold between the conscious and unconscious, linking the visible and the hidden.
The installation also speaks to psychoanalytic themes of repression. The act of enclosing the bed within concrete suggests the ways in which individuals suppress fears and desires. Concrete, as a barrier, symbolizes the containment of emotions and memories. The bed, now trapped in this concrete structure, becomes a paradoxical space of rest confined by emotional and psychological limitations.
Michel Foucault’s theory of spatial discipline, particularly in Discipline and Punish (1975), can also be applied here. Foucault discusses how spaces of confinement shape behavior and enforce boundaries. The concrete basement in Domestic Cave not only serves as a physical barrier but also as a psychological one, controlling how we relate to space, identity, and the subconscious. The home becomes a site of both refuge and control, challenging the relationship between comfort and constraint.
In Domestic Cave, the viewer is prompted to explore the tension between safety and isolation, comfort and confinement. The installation invites reflection on how spaces, both literal and metaphorical, influence our experience of self and shape the boundaries between the familiar and the repressed. By channeling Bachelard’s exploration of hidden spaces and Foucault’s analysis of spatial control, Vansteenkiste creates a work that encourages us to confront the complex and often contradictory nature of domesticity.