Work – Update

A lot has become clear recently. To put it simple I should say that I think I found my focus since thinking about the earlier mentioned conversation with Frans Evers of last year about talking to somebody using video chat or just a phone. Looking back at my master proof I realised the most important object on my table to me, is this disc saying ‘YOU ARE HERE’ which represented ‘me’, ‘myself’/’my Self’, ‘I’, … . Not that I am so fascinated by myself, I just want to say it made me realise the rest of the map didn’t matter so much, my main interest is the question, are are questions like: What is the Self? Where does it come from? Does it exist? What influences this Self? How is it affected by media? etc.

I believe my tests with my ‘echo location’ technique are also connected to this theme in some way. This idea has been taking more time then expected but slowly this project is finding its way out of my head and into…mmm…reality? 🙂 In order to get to some kind of possible output I decided to continue with my drawings and I also made a quiet simple video that should be presented in a mirror.

This simple thing that I have practically finished now is this video just showing subtitles in the middle of a mirror. The visitor should look into the mirror and should experience a chat with his/her mirror image. The idea was somehow inspired by the weired conversation with the Mystery Man in Lost Highway. It is rather manipulative as I try to take over the visitor’s thoughts, but hey how many times aren’t we manipulated every day without even noticing…at least I do it in your face.

Conversation with the Self - video of subtitles behind a mirror

My drawings have changed a bit since last year. They are still mind maps in some way, but I push them until they fail. Nothing is really recognisable anymore, just maybe some very tiny details, just to give the viewer a little something to hold on to, even if just for a split second. The drawings are some kinds of koans. It’s over-layering of images and blind spot bubbles to come to some kind of point at which the Mind Maps becomes a kind of irrecognisable void. They are inspired by the meditational character of the koan and meditations on the Self.

Mind Maps / SELFportraits