Since 1997, Ingeborg Meulendijks has been working on Het Geheime Huis ('The Secret House') an ongoing art project consisting of sculptural models, monumental photographs of modelled spaces and work on paper. By playing with scale, perspective and light, she explores how we experience places on an emotional and intimate level. Her thoughts on dwelling and being are visualised in the collection of small-scale rooms.

‘The scale model stands on the threshold between imagination and reality, inviting the viewer to step into both worlds.’

‍Ingeborg designs and builds these rooms in her studio, located in part of the 19th-century monastery of Steyl. Here, she meticulously saws and sands scale models made of wood, cardboard and textiles. She captures the atmosphere of these spaces with an analogue camera and develops the images herself in a darkroom. She consciously chooses this slow way of working in which, like the monks and nuns in Steyl, she does everything by hand. It is precisely this slowing down that liberates the creative process from the time pressure and haste that often dominate our daily lives.


Version II

Rooms no. 1 to no. 8 are simple little spaces, inspired by the experiences and thoughts of artist Ingeborg Meulendijks. The interiors consist of four walls, a ceiling, and a floor. The simplicity and limited dimensions of each room make them appear to be accommodation for one person. The fittings are spare and the furniture is basic, consisting of a table, one chair, and a bed. This austerity calls up the association with a 'cell', a small room for one in a monastery. Each room could also be a study, a place for temporary seclusion. The individual cells are not completely identical. Minor differences in architectural design give each room its own identity, lending the solitude there its unique character.