Event 2: Mnemoawari

This past week, I attended an exhibit hosted by Eli Joteva as part of her solo art show, called Mnemoawari. The very first thing that caught my attention was the name of the exhibit, as no amounts of searching the vast internet yielded any results as to the origin of the exhibit name. Oddly, the enigmatic name and the sparse exhibit description captivated my interest and made me want to find out what it was all about.

ME!

Upon entering the exhibition room in Broad, the first thing I was presented with was a beautiful projection of light rays diffracting in a circular pattern. The piece was titled “Dream Augur”, and although I had no initial understanding of the projection’s context, it exuded an aura of tranquility and pensiveness that put me in a daydreaming trance while staring at it. Later, I learned that the projection was a representation of Eli’s roommate’s brain waves that were captured through a cup of water. Visual representation of brain activity has been an available technology for quite some time, especially with the development of electroencephalograms (EEG), but different artistic representations help us understand ourselves in different perspectives, and carries an emotional aspect that purely scientific representations do not. By having a deeper understanding of the self and others that surround us, people can have better foresight on the things that “can be” and “will be”, almost as if they’re “remembering the future”.

Dream Augur 

Working my way into the exhibit, I came across a piece named “Not All Cycles Can Be Contained,” which consisted of three sculptures hanging from the ceiling. The sculptures were spheres of ice embedded with various natural materials, such as sand, flowers, fungi, seeds, etc. Each one had its own special mixture of materials that gave it a unique texture, visual appeal, and fragrance. I noticed that the sculptures have been out and melting for a while from the brimming bowls and trays that captures the runoff water. Seeing the sculptures in their state at that moment made me wonder what they could have looked like at first, and what they can look like as time progresses. If the Dream Augur represented the future, the ice sculptures seemed to symbolize the present by displaying the transient state that all things are in. As defined by the second law of thermodynamics, all systems are bound to increase in entropy, where the current state is ephemeral and is experiencing perpetual transformation.

Not All Cycles Can Be Contained

The last section of the exhibit was a large open area, where three of the surrounding walls had a projection of the spherical ice sculptures in their initial state. The projections were a three dimensional scans of the sculptures, and was animated to spin so the viewers can observe every facet of the sculptures. The rendered projections captured the pristine beauty of the sculptures in their birth, which is now just a memory of the past.

Mnemonic Place Fields

After observing all the exhibit pieces, I inquired Eli about the title of the exhibit, and learned that it was in fact a previously nonexistent word composed from the word “mnemonic”, the greek goddess Mnemosyne, and some Japanese word that I honestly cannot remember for my life. The name Mnemoawari represented the theme of memory, its context to time, and how it’s perceived through different forms.

References

·         "Mnemonic." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 13 May 2017. Web. 13 May 2017.

·         Atsma, Aaron J. "MNEMOSYNE." MNEMOSYNE - Greek Titan Goddess of Memory (Roman Moneta). N.p., n.d. Web. 13 May 2017.

·         Stinson, Liz. "Watch An Artist Control Pools of Water With Her Brainwaves." Wired. Conde Nast, 24 Nov. 2014. Web. 13 May 2017.

·         Blocka, Karla. "EEG (Electroencephalogram)." Healthline. Healthline Media, 25 Nov. 2015. Web. 13 May 2017.

·         Boundless. "The Three Laws of Thermodynamics - Boundless Open Textbook." Boundless. Boundless, 02 June 2016. Web. 13 May 2017.