Noor speaks on the Freud’s cigars artist’s book in relation to the Mind the Gap theme:

The book starts with a description of a long forgotten apartment in Paris ( this really happened ; it had been abandoned in world war II and was discovered in 2013, cobweb-filled!)
A space that didn’t exist for over 70 years, a void, a gap, is suddenly discovered. This can be seen as a symbol for psychoanalysis; discovering the forgotten parts in our mind. 
Coming into contact with our own mind-gaps can free them and liberate us from our personal “wars”. 
The concept and format  of the book runs parallel with Freud’s theory of psychoanalysis; jumping the gaps in an associative way through time and space from one subject to the next.  As Freud lighting one cigar with the next.

Throughout this the blanks in between the associative subjects tell the main story and serve as the red thread through the story. These gaps tell the story of liberation: literally Freud’s flight from the nazi’s in Vienna to London. On a larger scale; daring to discover the gaps, or coming to accept we live with gaps in our own minds and recognizing these gaps that are so essential to being human. 

To reach ‘bearable redescriptions of unbearable things’ as British psychoanalyst Adam Phillips says.

Noor van der Brugge

Noor van der Brugge is an illustrator based in the Netherlands. Her art practice centers on the ancient and persistent book form as a site of expression. Her work has been globally distributed and appears in multiple international collections such as the Freud Museum in London, UK and the Central Museum in Ultrecht, Belgium.