Statement
In a desire to capture experience and to secure the past, I explore themes such as the elaboration of memory, the construction of social relationships, and the ineluctability of less. Through a multiform body of work and by borrowing techniques from sociology, history, journalism, and science, I explore the limits between the personal and subjective on the one hand, and the common and shared on the other. Divided between studio practice and public art practice, my work often takes the form of ephemeral installations or distributable pieces.
In one of my latest work Almanach – an archive which is about to vanish – I use redrawn images coming from personal souvenirs and news headlines, displaying them on miniscule light boxes connected to batteries of varying duration. In a pathetic attempt to counter the inevitable gaps and losses that occur in the constitution of my memory, the work compiles an ongoing representation of my brain. Some images resist time; others light up for only a few seconds; but eventually all the images fade away.
The series Random Stories explores the fragility of memory and its contested relationship to history. Using collections and illustrations of personal and subjective points of view, the works revisit historical and contemporary events. In creating it, I met random people by way of various strategies – an ad in the local newspaper, a dispatch of emails, or word of mouth. The resulting artwork is then given away to a larger public audience by using an existing structure or network.
For example Anecdota, an alternative tourist map tracing a walk which visits unfamous places, was distributed at the Tourist Information Office in Weimar. And Cortez St., a sound piece retracing the fight to landmark houses on Cortes Street in Chicago, was spread using the social network of the Ukrainian Village Preservation Society in Chicago.
In the work According to Rayleigh, the active participation of the viewer is an integral part of the process. The viewers are invited to exchange a light bulb somewhere in their home with a blue light bulb that is given away. On a city map they can indicate the future location of the blue bulb and leave an email address. After the work is taken down they receive a picture of the completed map. A simple switch in an everyday-life gesture, and perceptions of the environment become slightly altered. Windows lit up at night by TVs become suddenly a point of interest.
Throughout my practice, works have taken various forms and explore diverse contexts. Yet the central question has always been and will probably always remain the human being, and the fragility inherent to being human. My earlier work questioned the body and corporeal sensation; over time, the active participation of the viewer has become increasingly central to my practice. My ultimate hope is that the accumulation of memories, stories and created events will congregate into an eclectic and definitely subjective archive that will act more like a prism diffracting light than a time capsule to be opened a hundred years from now.
In one of my latest work Almanach – an archive which is about to vanish – I use redrawn images coming from personal souvenirs and news headlines, displaying them on miniscule light boxes connected to batteries of varying duration. In a pathetic attempt to counter the inevitable gaps and losses that occur in the constitution of my memory, the work compiles an ongoing representation of my brain. Some images resist time; others light up for only a few seconds; but eventually all the images fade away.
The series Random Stories explores the fragility of memory and its contested relationship to history. Using collections and illustrations of personal and subjective points of view, the works revisit historical and contemporary events. In creating it, I met random people by way of various strategies – an ad in the local newspaper, a dispatch of emails, or word of mouth. The resulting artwork is then given away to a larger public audience by using an existing structure or network.
For example Anecdota, an alternative tourist map tracing a walk which visits unfamous places, was distributed at the Tourist Information Office in Weimar. And Cortez St., a sound piece retracing the fight to landmark houses on Cortes Street in Chicago, was spread using the social network of the Ukrainian Village Preservation Society in Chicago.
In the work According to Rayleigh, the active participation of the viewer is an integral part of the process. The viewers are invited to exchange a light bulb somewhere in their home with a blue light bulb that is given away. On a city map they can indicate the future location of the blue bulb and leave an email address. After the work is taken down they receive a picture of the completed map. A simple switch in an everyday-life gesture, and perceptions of the environment become slightly altered. Windows lit up at night by TVs become suddenly a point of interest.
Throughout my practice, works have taken various forms and explore diverse contexts. Yet the central question has always been and will probably always remain the human being, and the fragility inherent to being human. My earlier work questioned the body and corporeal sensation; over time, the active participation of the viewer has become increasingly central to my practice. My ultimate hope is that the accumulation of memories, stories and created events will congregate into an eclectic and definitely subjective archive that will act more like a prism diffracting light than a time capsule to be opened a hundred years from now.
