Around the forest
Every day I’m lost, my dear friend. The lab is spread out for days. Nikolai Zalolotski
It is based on the Naturfilosofian observation of forest secrets. The area of the forest speaks of its greatness, and the fragments of the forest speak of its fullness in life. The forest hides the details, makes it difficult to classify the elements of the green kingdom. As we enter the woods, we have to consider the incomplete identification of the details of nature. The parts of the forest remain undetected, the memory of adventure erases, and the movement of the viewer blurs the details. The forest painting turns into a green line, a vector of the speed of the walking subject. The rigid position has caused resistance. The area of the forest surface fluctuates and overlaps and resists vision. Good and evil, important or negligible forest components become green spots in the picture.
You can get close to the forest and count its elements. Counting the parts leads us to numbers as such. Numbers replace the complexity of nature, provide attention and understanding. The division of nature by counts and classifications does not appear to be «the gathering of the world’s insects and sciences». The unity of life and death of living matter is incomprehensible to the mind. Armed instruments of observation do not always defeat the greatness of nature.
The «Creature of the Forest» facility consists of photographs, objects and a video. Parts of the installation have been compiled into groups of meaning that identify experiences in interaction with natural entities. The main motive of the exhibition is the physical positions of the observer of natural phenomena in conditions that prevent their full visibility.
1 Photos displayed on a long shelf, with fluorescent lamps for lighting on the shelf behind the photographs. This creates a long green line — the forest itself or the «observator» is moving. Lamps light up the work and a little bit the wall.
2 Photos show forest, some of which are volatile and blurry, which shows the course of living time.
3 Observation stations are designed to deal with parts of the forest, which hinders the understanding of the whole image of the forest. They are supposed to look at the instruments by limiting their horizons and approaching their forest parts.
4 Around the Forest. There’s a round about the woods and there’s a discreteness of space.
The exhibition was held at the Pennlab Gallery from 15 to 31 July 2022.
