Some of the exhibition materials originate from the Neurobiology Laboratory at the Weizmann Institute of Science, which studies the spatial memory and navigation of bats. The bats laboratory space is almost entirely empty, in order to achieve scientific exactitude: no one is allowed in the room during the experiment. White lines crisscross the space, creating secondary spaces and providing spatial reference points. The outcomes of the experiment are digital signs created by the reverberations of the event in technological devices and translated into a range of visual signals. The sonar calls that orient the bats within the space become a sonic arrangement and a dynamic infographic system. In the artistic space, the materials undergo a conversion into a simulated scenario – and the viewers, free of the rules of scientific observation, are invited to take part and immerse themselves in the experiment.
What, one might wonder, is the intricate line at the corners and sides of the space, that breaks into points of light and finally disappears? How is that we see, but do not remember? The imaginary tracks build up into a rhythm of a movement, breathing, and sound. The flying movement passes through objects and surfaces at varying depths, collides with barriers, reveals and counteracts the sequence of movements. In doing so, it indicates how subjective spatial memory is constructed, partial and incomplete, as a “theater of memory.”
The maze-like, experimental installation is composed as a system of mental maps, serving both as an expression of their creation and as their generator. It is yet another chapter in the Hes Yassour’s ongoing artistic research of many years into mental maps – that is, people’s subjective perception of the spaces around them. It is a non-hierarchical map, based on personal experience and beliefs. Fears establish boundaries within it, and impulses draw its nooks and crannies. Unlike other maps, which seek to present an “objective chart,” for which they unify diverse stories and spaces and expunge all traces of personal experience, the mental map is embedded in the body’s memory, in the senses, in states of blockage and of breakthrough, and is endlessly changing. Each exhibition visitor is invited to experience the sights, sounds, and sensations, to choose their own random itineraries and create their own unique map, anew on each occasion.
The installation Space and its Double – Observations was first presented as part of Penny Hes Yassour’s exhibition “Temp-Est,” Museen der Stadt Recklinghausen, Germany (curator: Dr. Hans-Jürgen Schwalm). The exhibition was part of Ruhrfestspiele Recklinghausen (Ruhr Theater Festival).
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