Shirt

When designing his ‘neutral objects’ Ed Annink intentionally avoids functions that have been defined and interpreted beforehand. They are neither sideboards, nor tables or sculptures, just empty shapes that allow him to consciously open up all possibilities of use and meaning. His shirt reflects upon the way the body functions. The mind directs everything, which is expressed in the harnesslike collar with its halo of brass bars. This collar consists of a big leather circle that partly covers the arms. The brains, emphasized by antennae, direct the ‘thinking-arm’ and the ‘acting-arm’, the former richly stuffed with cylindrical paddings, the latter merely daubed with mud that dries so quickly that it changes into a cracked map before the work has been finished. In this way Annink expresses the idea that activities leave traces.