Mnemoawari by E. Joteva was a great interactive experience. The event description said: “mnemoawari will perform a cycle over the course of three days, during which three cryo sculptures will release their entropic potential into virtual and material memory. The interactive multimedia installation deals with the power of awareness within the transference and formation of immaterial impressions” (UCLA Design Media Arts). Even when given this description, I had no idea what I should expect. Once I went through the exhibit, I knew I went through an adventure.
The first stop in the exhibit was Dream Augur, a “projected photograph of a dream-wave portrait” (Joteva). It’s a dynamic projection of a circular blue figure that seems to emit rays. I came to see this projection as a sun.
The second stop was three hanging sculptures Not All Cycles Can Be Contained, which were made out of water, flowers, fungi, seeds, sand, light, aluminum, sound, heat, and time. A reddish orange sphere suspended in the air by rope that dripped a clear liquid into a large vessel below. The liquid in the vessel was reflected on the wall behind the sculpture. Closeby in the other corner was another reddish orange sphere suspended in the air by rope. Liquid, orange this time, drips off the sphere into a vessel. I came to see these spheres as planets. In the other corner was a grayish sphere suspended in the air by rope. It hung over an empty glass vessel, which sits in a metal pan of fine sand. I came to associate this as Earth’s moon.
The next stop was a VR station called A View from Within. When I looked into the VR set, it seemed like there were crashing waves all over me. I associated this station as Earth.
The last stop was projections of the previous three spheres called Mnemonic Place Fields. The projections enlarged the spheres, forcing me to notice the detail and materials. I saw how the first sphere had twigs, how the the second sphere had flowers, and how the third sphere had shells. At this point, a story of earth and space had formed in my mind. The natural materials represent the Earth: the twigs represent earth/dirt, the flowers represent life, and the shells represent water. The sculptures and the void around them represent space.
I went through the exhibit again to experience it aware of a story. The viewer starts off at the blue projection, the sun. Then the viewer travels to the two reddish orange spheres, perhaps Mercury and Venus. Next, the viewer travels to the grayish sphere, the moon. Finally, the viewer sees Earth through the VR set. On the sign at the entrance of the exhibit, Joteva includes sub titles under the names of her works. These sub titles include: can you remember a future?, can you remember a present?, can you remember a place between?, and can you remember a past?, which reaffirms that the installations have a storyline. As the description said, the installation “deals with the power of awareness.” I believe this installation, with its materials and storyline, really forces the viewer to be aware where they are in terms of the adventure and their actual physical position. I have no idea what the artist actually meant to convey, but despite that, I still had an out-of-this-world experience.
Sources/Links
Joteva, E, curator. Mnemoawari. 2017. University of California, Los Angeles. 9 May 2017. https://dma.ucla.edu/events/calendar/?ID=1007
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