'Lawrence Malstaf's work is situated in the area that separates the expressive and the theatrical. … In Malstaf's work the theatrical experience is a personal one in which the visitor can observe and (occasionally) be observed all at the same time. By creating environments compatible with different types of people he facilitates different lines of approach, depending on the visitor's affinity and personal rhythm. Through this, and in his own special and original way, Malstaf links up with a modern movement in the performing arts in which the visitor, torn away from the codes of collective events, falls back wholly on himself. … In this sense one could compare Malstaf's 'anti-automaton' with a performance. These are live installations which depend on the visitor, and in which 'the space is the actor and the body is the fellow actor'. The visitor becomes an essential physical component of what takes place and experiences this from within rather than thinking or interpreting from the outside. An example of this 'being in the middle' is the installation entitled Mirror.
Malstaf's work nevertheless largely remains an intriguing contradiction in terms: through science and technology he attempts to arouse sensory experiences that are far more direct than our intellectual analyses. However, although his anti-automaton comprises a powerful sculptural and architectural force, his main concern is not simply the aesthetic value of science or technology. Indeed, the form is subject to the experience of catharsis. His work examines this more and more deeply and in doing so moves towards purely immaterial installations in which experience takes precedence and not the design. …' .
Sally De Kunst