Location: transept

In the transept of Sint-Jozefkerk, Hans van Houwelingen (b. 1957, Harlingen) sets down an extra confessional chair, originating from another Neo-Gothic, Catholic Church. In doing so, the artist questions the identity of the church as an institute. Two 18th-century sculptures hang on the confessional chair – one is a monkey and one is Christ as a child – a reference to two dark periods in the church’s history. Two huge fossils, hanging on the back of the confessional chair, propel two core questions: which path did the church go down in the past and which path will it choose in the future?