This piece was my final for my Spatial Dynamics class in Spring 2014. The prompt was to find a way to interpret space and demonstrate how this works in critique.
I latched onto the idea that your memories define the space around you. Without your memories, you would not be able to comprehend the information that your senses are receiving. Your mind is able to rifle through your memories instantaneously, adding context and understanding to the space that you are occupying. In order to convey this concept, I decided to create an installation/performance art piece that is depicted through a visual metaphor: your mind is like a filing cabinet; your mind is constanly adding onto, editing, and forgetting files that inform you about the world around you.
There is a reason and concept behind every aspect of this installation. The filing cabinet drawers are suspended amongst loose slips of paper because my mind is a form of organzied chaos: There are moments where things are perfectly filed away and moments where things are scattered. The scraps of paper signify memories that edit a perception of a specific place or phenomena and have not found a home yet. The filing cabinets have organized forms of information that the subconsious mind is constantly accessing.
This drawer is interactive
It has information on basic concepts that we accept and acknowledge in our daily lives. They all start out with a basic image done with ink washes. It is layered with added information and experiences that are defined on acetate with text and gouache. (Not pictured)
There are some memories that we wish we could forget, or have forgotten. This drawer that has fallen to the floor is full of those. These memories can make a place feel toxic, unwelcoming, or unsettling. They tend to change the feeling of a space in a negative way.
Wax covers this entire drawer and it's contents. It is hot and painfully clear when first applied, but cools and turns opaque after a time. This is what I try to do with these painful memories. I intend to cloud them out, just like wax.
For the performance art:
I wanted to convey how the mind informs you about the space around you via your memories. It does it without you even noticing it in a moment. My performance art demonstrates and slows down this process. I projected an image of Stuttgart Schlossplatz, the city square in my home city, and described it with the help of my filing cabinet. I interacted with my installation in order to understand basic concepts that make up the space. These concepts included the files sky, perspective, ornament, architecture, palace, terrain, humans, and many more.
Thank you for viewing
