Edwin Janssen

Narcissus and the Pool of Corruption

Narcissus and the Pool of Corruption was presented at Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam, in 1995. The installation brought together paintings and sculptures from the museum’s collection with additional borrowed and replicated works, alongside photographs and photocopies. These elements were displayed through framing devices such as storage racks, pin boards, and mirrors. By interrogating museum culture, art-historical classification, cultural recycling, exhibition design, and the aura of the artwork, the installation offered a critical and self-reflective exploration of the conditions that shape artistic display.

Narcissus and the Pool of Corruption was partly inspired by a text by George Bataille (1897-1962) in which he expresses his view of the museum as “the colossal mirror in which man, finally contemplating himself from all sides, and finding himself literally an object of wonder, abandons himself to the ecstasy expressed in art journalism.” *

* George Bataille, “Museum”, October, no. 36, 1986, 25; trans. Annette Michelson.

The texts in the accompanying publication were written by Hanneke de Man and Mieke Bal.