the 100 smallest

"What do you believe in?” When it comes to believes, facts and fiction merge.

Believes can be personal truths, shaping and colouring our perception of reality. At the same time, believes permeate that shared reality – and ask which meaning this reality has for whom.

the 100 smallests is an independent art project I started in 2023. The idea: Asking 100 people what they believe in – and channelling this powerful energy into 100 very small paintings (5 x 5 cm).

That way, otherwise invisible and intangible believes become part of our shared physical reality. They get “matter-realised”.

Would you also like to participate and share your belief? Feel free to get in touch on site!

Phone screens also take a central role in this project. The Instagram account @the100smallest embraces the dual nature of phone screens as material membranes transcending facts and fiction, truth an perception.

Scrolling through the feed, we absorb a reality outside our physical realm, zone out of our surroundings to connect to a stream of information that shapes reality, no matter whether it is facts or fakes we are perceiving. Many religions follow a tradition of repetitive or continuous prayer guided by, e.g., a rosary, a prayer chain, or a prayer wheel. Isn’t the never-ending Instagram feed somewhat similar to those devices? Like a modern distortion of a prayer that we engage in, no matter our religion or cultural background? This is how the idea got born to use the Instagram feed as an outlet. (Plus, the format of the smallest 5x5 cm fits phone screens perfectly!)