Sand Sun

I do not only treat the space as a source of intellectual inspirations but also as a tangible element. I see the space as a reflective interactive element, which presents me with various options. I can choose to use not just the walls but also the floors, the ceiling and the inside of the rooms. I treat the building as material, as opposed to a frame like it is used in galleries. Disused buildings also often have materials that have been left there which I can then employ for my installations.

The issue of Time has also an important place in my work at different levels. I find that, in our western societies, we tend to forget (willingly or not) that our lives are so ephemeral. Using “abandoned” edifices is one way of reflecting this temporal notion.
The ephemeral aspect of my installations (they are destroyed / abandoned once the event is over) reflects the temporal quality of the buildings and the even shorter period of activities, which took place in them.
I create work especially for a specific exhibition. The only time anyone will have the opportunity to come into contact with it is in “this” place and at “this” time. This feeling of exclusivity is another way of putting across this concern about Time. The documentation of my installations (photos, videos, sketches and written notes) is the only tangible trace of the work posterior to an exhibition.
I am concerned with providing my audience with an active experience. And therefore need to go against centuries of learned behaviour: the systematic “DO NOT TOUCH” signs in museums.
I intend to provide the public with the opportunity to feel an artwork physically. I aimed to place the audience in a situation where it could understand the work with the body and senses as well as with the mind and engage in a more complete experience. Creating such interactivity triggers a sensorial awareness, which causes the audience to take conscience of its own activity, and investment, and of the consequences emerging from it. I believe that pushing the audience to more interaction opens other paths of understanding and procures additional feelings of connection with the work. For example the touch and smell senses are more immediate and provides a more direct experience and understanding of a work.

In my installations, I provide an environment, which creates relations between

different elements. I provoke a dialogue between these entities in order to create a piece, which is “living” and evolving, where each element has an influence on/ a relation with the others.

I am concerned with both the “tangible site” (a physical structure and elements) and the “functional site” (a source of information on its past use). My work is angled on issues such as: how to interact with a particular space, how to revive “disused” buildings, what is the best way of tackling Time related concepts, how to deal with the audience and provide an interactive, enriching environment, which materials to work with and why.

The way our cities’ landscape evolves over the years and how it affects our lives is an important issue for me. I find that looking at it on a small scale, choosing a particular area of a city, concentrating on the changes of a particular building often reflects what is happening on a larger scale.

I question the changes in social and economical needs. By focussing my attention on buildings which had a particular space in the history of a community or where a significant social event took place such as old, derelict cinemas, theatres, music halls, factories, churches, hostels, ...

I aim to highlight these changes, reminding a generation that knew the space in its original use as well as showing a new generation its heritage. So to say engendering a rehabilitation of the site in question as well as highlighting its historic usage.

I found that digging into local history sometimes revive and therefore re-actualise, for a moment, issues that have been hidden or forgotten.

The materials I choose to work with have also a role in highlighting the social aspect of my work. The scale I work with is of human proportions to increase the relation between the work and the audience.The use of objects and materials found on the site is also a way of keeping the audience within an identifiable setting.In the past I have used video, photographs, found objects, paint, and fire.Found objects also raise another issue parallel to the temporal aspect. They remove the economical value from the installation, as I use “trash” that will be disposed of when the event is finished. This lack of commercial value, this move away from object fetishism and collection, is another reminder of our temporary presence. Another media, which is often present in my work, is video. I find that the public is used to television and cinema and that it facilitates the absorption of the data. I place videos in a different context to move away from the passive consumer / viewer state. By immersing them with the other materials I push the audience to mix their reading with the other materials instead of just sitting in front of it just receiving data.I have also become increasingly interested by sounds for a similar reason. I am attracted by their abilities, whether it is to act as a non-tangible invitation to come in a space or as additional non-visual information. I find that their attributes generate other ways of working with a space, sounds can, for example, be echoing and bouncing of a building’s structure. They also stimulate a different sense than the view and therefore reinforce the comprehension of the work in an different manner.I wish to carry on investigating these issues and themes to a greater extend. I am also interested in experimenting more with materials, which can self-destruct or disappear, such as ice, water, smoke … to reiterate the aspect of Time and ephemerality. Sounds and video projections (and their relations and interaction with a space) are two media, which I want to explore in more depth. Another important aspect of my work, which I will carry on researching, is the audience participation and how to encourage it while offering more freedom of involvement.

photographysandsun

art installation sandsun