Labels, but not for clothes

Tuesday, 07 January 2025 00:00

 

The personal and the social always go hand in hand in my work and I enjoy breaking down a narrative in different media. The project "Labels, but not for clothes" is complete, in the sense that it approaches the topic of labeling and stereotyping from different angles and it calls for participation. Here I include only the video, just to set the tone and lure you in the project. Don't forget to share your thoughts!

You may also notice that one of the two voices included in the video is appropriated from another project, very suitably called Repetition, that was originally meant to be part of "Labels, but not for clothes" but went its own way.

 

 

The installation "Labels but not for clothes" has had one public moment in November, in the Piet Zwart Institute in Rotterdam, NL, and is looking for more spaces!

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I always thought that if you have even the slightest view to the natural world, you don't need television and you never get bored. There is always something happening: A cloud, a breeze, some wafting smell. Even inside, if you have a fireplace, you can spend hours watching what is possibly the strongest resemblance of a mystical dance the natural world has to offer. All these joys of the senses and the mind are connected to some kind of movement, some kind of wave. 

However, there is also another level of observation: The observation of the unmoving, the still, the silent. If you observe anything long enough, something magical happens: It starts changing before your eyes. The object exists only in immediate connection to our perception of it. If the objects were conscious of their existence, they would be divided between the view of themselves and our view of them. Which view would be holding the truth? These were my thoughts, as I photographed this object and watched the monster-bride endlessly change before my eyes. Different corners, different light, different relation to space, to itself. It began as an interpretation of an amplifier by its maker (Christian Kennecke, aka @ernstunited) and in the perception of those observing it it became a bridal dress, a bride, a monster, a purse. 

It has been some time since then, and I'm still thinking about the monster-bride, probably because I hadn't examined anything so intently in a long time. Watching the object for so long left a strong impression that is still growing in me. Obviously, observing hasn't stopped when I took my eyes away. My mind is still processing, my perception of the object is still changing, evolving perhaps. If you watch anything long enough, you fall in love with it: It becomes an extension and expression of you, a poem that touches you deeply. I am not sure if hate is even a possible feeling, once you get close enough to anything, or if feeling depends on the object's nature, if such a thing exists, or our own disposition. In any case, if I ever get bored, if I ever feel empty, all I have to do is get out of my head, stretch my gaze to anything my gaze can reach, and enjoy the show. 


 

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