VI
Bedankt voor de bloemen (thanks for the flowers). I think my Vatican Machine or Pope Swapping toy needs to be a little "over the top" ...one should be wallowing in a lush floral feast when one peeks into the device. As if all the flowers from Holland that fill up the St Peter Square yearly, are one by one condensed and gilded and stuck through the front wall of the machine. A friend was absolutely right when she told me the white plaster version looks so much more appealing than the finalized kitsch facade. That is exactly the trouble with this toy, somehow it should be at the perverted and depraved side. All in all it seems like my reliquary is nearing completion and I should now focus on the two popes themselves and paste the whole thing together.
VII
To come back to the St Peter Square flower ritual, this is quite a big deal. Headlines emerged: "SHAME" No flowers from Holland for Pope anymore? The commotion around the message that big sponsors FloraHolland & Bloemenbureau Holland withdrew from funding only abated when "florist of the Pope" Paul Deckers ensured the press and the Dutch people that also this year and even the years thereafter, Rome can count on Dutch flowers. In the picture we see our Minister of Justice Fred Grapperhaus, florist Paul Deckers and King's Commissioner in South Holland Jaap Smit at the Vatican in happier times, when money was still flowing quietly. But when you look at the trio's general expression there might have been already a dark cloud at the horizon.
PS
That same evening I had the four walls complete, the Vatican Machine is now getting shape... the lens is firmly mounted, my reliquary is ready and waiting for the two Popes, stay tuned.
