Along a busy road stands a pole topped with a box. In Belgium, such a pole is instantly recognized as a speed camera: drivers slow down as soon as they see it. In my version, however, there is no camera inside the box, but a statue of the Buddha. Each time a car approaches, the shutters of the box close quickly.

The Buddha reveals himself only when it is quiet, when no human presence is near. He seems to withdraw from the world, yet at the same time he deceives the passing drivers: they believe it to be a speed trap and slow down. Fear of control thus creates an accidental moment of calm. The illusion leads to stillness – an unexpected kind of enlightenment. The work plays with the tension between speed and awareness, external discipline and inner control, the noise of the world and the silence of the mind.

In this 3D animation, I show a house that alternately shuts itself off from and opens up to its surroundings. At first, it is completely enveloped in darkness, its shutters closed. Only through small slits can one peek inside.

Then the shutters of the windows and doors open: the house literally unfolds itself to the neighborhood. A visitor may knock and might or might not be allowed in. Finally, even the shutters covering the walls open. But there turn out to be no walls at all – the house dissolves into light, spreading warmly and invitingly outward.