High, vertical pillars are found in all cultures. They can be found in the form of a sacred tree or as a pillar or column in an expression of power. We like to look up to things, which is something we have been doing since many centuries. Just think of the architecture in Ancient Egypt, Greece and the Roman Empire, or the first inhabitants of colonies who built pillars in front of their houses: plenty of examples can be found in America and Indonesia. More recently we have Speer, Hitler’s in-house architect. His megalomaniac motto ‘the bigger the better’ led to the erection of impressive structures in the German Reich.

My ‘Stapelingen’ (‘Stackings’) (jaartal) stem from the same collective philosophy. As I sat pondering I arrived at the following thought: Could it be that pillars are a subconscious expression of our desire to lengthen our legs and tower over others?