V V V V Vasiliki
In this text I will discuss three works (fold and unfold, is not there & mushrooms). All are concerned with time as a material; how things become through physical interaction, memory and the structure of the organism itself.
“Fold and unfold”
In “Fold and Unfold” the viewer is invited into the space, through several invitations that are written in different parts of the space, to unfold and fold the fleeces and occupy the space if he desires.
“Fold and unfold” is composed by five fleeces, of different sizes in variations of white, grey and black, which have geometric shapes drawn on them. Some drawings are made with a silkscreen technique and others with mechanical embroidery. All drawings are made in a fleece fabric of a different texture of softness. The drawings depict an impossible space; they are optical illusions in which the foreground and the background of the object shift place. The fleeces on which these objects are drawn are folded and placed on a table. The viewer is invited to experiment with the objects by folding and unfolding them he occupies the space. All of these objects are a cross between sculpture and drawing. They keep their material essence as objects and the gesture of drawing is also apparent.
Folding and unfolding is an ordinary action that creates gestures – it can be experienced as a gentle conversation or even as an obsession for order. There are ways to fold something according to your intentions. It can be a private monologue or it can create a space between people. There is something mystical in it as in a silent conversation; the action of folding is often parts of rituals ceremonies. Perhaps it inhabits the space of a dialogue? The piece invites the viewer to reflect on these concepts of use, materiality, and interaction and to experience their transformation. All the fleeces are on a table. The installation is in constant flux, the viewer becomes performer and the mediator between the objects and the artistic intention by folding and unfolding or not the fleeces, allowing or not for the drawings to appear.
“Is not there”
“Is not there” is a wall piece comprising six objects and a text, the text is written below or besides the arrangement of the objects. With this piece as well I explore similar territory. In the same way that you deal with impossible drawings in “Fold and Unfold” in “Is not there” there is something unresolved about its reading and form? Both encounter the space between the viewers, the work and the maker.
The text speaks of an experience, and memory, of an incident that took place in a Dutch market where I saw six objects in a box. These objects triggered memories of a Dutch painting, the kind of painting in which mundane objects are commonly placed along with a ideal scenery. When I started to look for the particular paintings I realized that they it didn’t exist, I had constructed the paintings in my memory. The viewer is invited to follow a series of events with his/her mind. That seems to have a cinematic narrative. The piece arose from a strange collage of different memories. It’s like a dream, where you add up all the different memories to make a new story. During my first days in Holland, I had heightened awareness of the Dutch light. It was then obvious why people painted the way they did during the time of the Dutch Golden Age.
Both pieces, although conceived separately, relate to each other because they both play with our sense of everyday experience. They provide an invitation to play and engage with the space and with the objects. In both cases the works are becoming the medium. Both stay in the size of human scaled objects; something someone could carry or move in the space literal or not, but not so small could be hidden in a pocket and defiantly not so big that could make it unmanageable. In all three pieces, they depict geometric shapes but the geometry imperfect, the structure of the materials, interrupts their geometric perfection. They move from a geometric structure to an organic structure and back again. Could the materiality of six objects in a certain environment trigger a memory flash back and could they them selves became makers of a new experience? The appearance of the piece changes every time is showed; the first time the text was printed out in a small size in an A4 page and played the role of the title. The second time the text was hand written in the wall in one and a half lines (total length 4m), the reader could read the text only of he/she moved in space. The six objects were glued in the wall, in a “kanoniki”, arrangement, two rows of three, the rows were exactly one on top of each other. The objects had with the same distance between them. Another time all the piece was inside a rectangle of light, the six objects where at the top and the text was once again hand written but in an almost cantered alignment with the object, this time the reader would have to stand still and close to the work to read, sometimes he/she would block the light and interfere with the visibility of the text for themselves and others. Every single situation brought up different hierarchy of the elements of the work as well as a les or more personalised connection with the author. It seems impossible to decide the final hierarchy of the elements with out the space that they will be in. The desire for the position of the reader in the space seems to formulate the final presentation of its elements. In all the cases the readers seemed to be drawn to the text and not walk away from it. The shift between the roles of the elements, create a different mode for understanding, its materiality ¬– memory, gesture, storytelling, involvement of the reader – in all the cases the found objects worked as primers for the experience and the verisimilitude of the story. It makes me wonder of the possible spaces that the work could inhabit. What would be the case of involving a digital space of a more demanding participation of the reader?
Mushrooms
"Time seems to have an impact at objects that is not observed in the everyday notion. A common state is observed between objects and organisms that it leads to the transformation of the matte, in such understanding, time, as part of the, equation maybe finally be perceived as an object as well. Maybe the limits of describing entities or reality is somewhere between the meaning of space, world, self, others, possibility, matter, faction, meaning, time.”, (Process Philosophy” on line Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
Time seem to effect the form/status of the mushrooms, but not their existence. They keep on being, they continue their process independently as they go through different status. I grow mushrooms in my studio on different logs. What was interesting was their material properties and observing the way the funguses grow and found form. They were one organism, which had endless possibilities of evolving in an unpredictable form. They operate, as one large underground mechanism, which allows them to exist. They are a fungus, which seems to have the same survival mechanism as the mussels. They build on each other but grow independently. The work consists of a blog of mushrooms, a cube made from plexiglas of 51x51 cm that is missing 12 cm, in the bottom of one side. That opening was necessary for allowing the viewer to touch or even cut the mushrooms as well as creating the proper temperature conditions for them to grow. Along the objects is a non-sequential archive of images of different status of the mushrooms blogs, through their observation for four months. The ideal form of a cube transforms a natural object to a treasure object. The cube creates the distance between the viewer and the mushrooms and put the first one in the position of an observer of a object in a case in a museum. The ideal condition of the cube, is interrupted as much as from the form of the mushrooms and their the continuous transformation, as well as from the side opening and the possible engagement of the viewer. “Thus contemporary process philosophy not only holds out the promise of an integrated metaphysics that can join our common sense and scientific images of the world. It is also of interest as a platform upon which to build an intercultural philosophy and to facilitate interdisciplinary research on global knowledge representation”, “Philosophers analyse becoming and what is occurring as well as ways of occurring. (Process Philosophy” on line Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
“Pantone Green”
“In the wake of this study a plea is made for a new definition of nature: nature is the environment in which you live and nowadays,
for many people that means the city.” (Cub Donny, issue 10, “It’s the user, stupid!”, Kristen Algera)
“There’s this huge gap between reality and its possible representations. And that gap is impossible to close. So as artists, we must try different strategies for representation. [...] process of identification is fundamental to create empathy, to create solidarity, to create intellectual involvement.”“I am hoping that this combination of creativity and ephemeral existence will perhaps help define the importance of contemporary art in our lives.” Alfredo Jaar, (http://www.globalimaginarydia.org/index.php/2013/02/the-skoghall-kkonsthall-2000/)
Pantone green is an action that is performed by a group of people. Several gestures are suggested - cutting, hanging, composing, and discussing - in order to decorate a corner of a room. The elements that could be used are three logs, printed images of plants, some soil, plants in pots, clay and some wooden constructions. A script/score/invitation for completing the work is given to the visitors. All the scripts/scores/invitations have different drawing of the space, and inform you about the possible positions of the elements.
In the corner: a pencil drawing of a grid, a cut log mounted on the wall. The adjacent wall has a window that allows you to see outside. All the materials and the tools are on the floor. The pictures are printed in an A4 format with a white frame around them, which should be cut for them to fit in the grid. In order to hang them black needles are available. The images are photographs of plants in an urban or domestic environment. They are placed horizontally at the wall even though their theme does not always have a horizontal format. Due to this distortion the themes are not easily recognizable and in the end they all became a wall paper/painting rather than an accurate representation of the outside. An irregular square is drawn with soil on the floor. The cylindrical porcelain pieces became extensions of the branches. A reversed wooden planter operates as resting case for tools, plants and other materials. Several plants in pots are in the space and could be placed in many possible positions. A piece of clay could be used as base for something. No documentation of the action is left in the space for the future visitors; the only evidence of their actions is a photograph of the space with a date that was completed as well as the sample of the instructions that were used.
A workshop? a sculpture? an installation? maybe a performance? All the previous mentioned terms have a specific context and require several conditions in order to be completed. With no intention to challenge these terms but driven from curiosity I invite the visitors to help me complete a possible script/score of inhabiting a given space. The outcome could vary, according
to the decisions of the participants as well as from the local materials. Participating myself in the new conditions that
the dynamic of the group will create, exploring from a new perspective the possible outcome of the script/score.
Materials/ Tools: wood, paper, porcelain, soil, scissors, needles, a window, clay, a silicon gun, scissors, pencil, soil, paper tape, hammer, glass, nails, and ruler.
Dimensions: variable
If the object is the centre but the initial point are my questions? Where does it places me and the one that takes/receives it? Where does it start to exist? Could it exist on each own? Does it exist in the links between the participants? Who has the lead? or is it a dance between them? Perhaps a vivant tableau, that roles shift and inhabit different quality’s at all time?
Recently, I was thinking of the ocean. What is it? Is it the environment for all the creatures that live in it it? Is it the substance that determines the borders of the land? Does it has time or is included in it? What could possible i be its shape?
In the end is it important to have the answers? Or is all about the process of questioning?
Did Odysseus ever made it to Ithaki?
Bibliography
Process Philosophy, http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/process-philosophy/ Future Contingents http://plato.stanford.edu/future-contingents
Identity time, http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/identity-time/
Manuel De Landa, DeLanda's lecture pon morphogenesis and art http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HSMTUZ64bY http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_De_Landa
Jane Benet, Artistry and Agency in a World of Vibrant Matter | The New School https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q607Ni23QjA&list=FLPOr9wdse7F-brw85alMjBg&index=7Armey Benet:
Augustine through the ages, An encyclopedia , general editor Allan D. Fitzgerald, O.S.A, foreword by Jaroslav Pelekan, paragraph 3, p.835
Hans Haacke, “Condensation Cube”, begun 1965, completed 2008, Plexiglas, water, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Haacke
Ricardo Basbaum, “Would you like to participate n an artistic experience?”, 1997 still going., http://www.nbp.pro.br/
Allan Kaprow, "Assemblage, enviroments, & happenings"
Ricardo Basbaum, http://www.artandresearch.org.uk/v2n2/basbaum.htm
Giannis Ritsos, "Selected Poems 1938-1988", edited and translated by Kimoen Frisar and Kostas Myrsiadis
Gertrude Stein, "Three live and tender buttons"