The following text is one of the five that are part of the installation:
While
we are saying our hellos on the threshold I can see them
hesitating whether to take the shoes off or not. And even before
they ask me: “Am I to take them off?” I’m already
measuring if I have anything to loose in the eyes of my guest by
answering the question one way or another. When I don’t have
much to loose, I say: “ Yes, that is a custom in this
house”. But when I’m trying to make a good impression I say:
“No, please, don’t be silly, there’s no need for that”,
while for myself I’m just picturing the stains on the carpet,
and my mother yelling how irresponsible I’m. In any case I
feel very uncomfortable, almost guilty.
Sometimes
I’m in opposite situation; I’m the visitor and yet I feel
very much the same. When I take my footwear off, the host offers
me a pair of slippers, which is OK when they are new or in good
shape, but much to often they are so worn off, almost
decomposed. I can picture in my mind two generations of the
host’s ancestors wearing them before me. Some, with a
self-denying gesture offer me the slippers that they themselves
worn until then, so I’m putting on some wet and smelly
slippers. On the other hand some don’t even bother finding me
something to put on my feet. Then I try to get my feet warm by
rubbing them one of another, hopping that someone will notice
and intervene.
Taking
shoes off when entering, although has some hygienic
justification, sends a message of prohibition and threatens to
ruin the sincerity of the relationship, before it is really
established.