SOPHIE ERNST & TAHA MEHMOOD
29 mei t/m 3 juli 2011

“The way he shapes stories, instead of going from fact to fact and lining facts together into a story line, no – he will go from feeling to feeling, make that into a story line.” Leonard

“And then in the third episode, the God creates the universe, but I, Ilagaligo, the author said, create this story” Nirwan

“This [t-shirt] is a token on that line; personal, then also it works in my work. It has it’s own meaning as a kind of measurement tool – an object of experience – it is a very precise object.” Roy

Presence of an Absence
Objects, Memory and Identity

For Presence of an Absence artist Sophie Ernst collaborates with researcher Taha Mehmood. The project is an analytic phenomenological work exploring the relations between objects, memory and identity. The project draws from fields such as memory, linguistics, colonial and contemporary history, sociology, sculptural form, stories, categories, myths, poetry, music, performance, intimate/cultural/social objects, ideal space and time.

Presence of an Absence is initiated as a set of fragmented dialogues, which are projected on a set of screens. The screens illuminate with outlines of story tellers; a subaltern historian, a cultural commentator, a writer, a performer, a poet, a curator, a researcher and a film-maker. They share their stories and insights. This sharing is arranged as a play. The story tellers throw and catch meanings, interpretations and signals from each other. The stories are retold as dialogue. The dialogue is sculpted.

Elsewhere objects, which are part of intimate memory of some of the story tellers, are arranged with excerpts from the screened conversations. These objects are displayed to invite interpretation, questioning, reflection, conversation, observation and dialogue amongst the viewer.

Sculpting an intentional object creates the conceptual fiber of Presence of an Absence. Intentional objects are without materiality, yet they have a presence that becomes apparent through experience. The various intentional objects scavenged during the research are projected here as sculptures. The ephemeral experience of a story teller is translated as a durable memory through a process of digitization. The memories of various experiences act like clay. A digital projector projects these memories as a signal, which is intercepted and translated as light and sound. As lights, sounds, memories and dialogues cut through the screen we see a sculpted memory of an experience.

Tentoonstelling
ZO 29 MEI t/m ZO 2 JULI
Donderdag t/m zondag | 12:00 – 17:00 | Scheltema
* Onder de titel ‘Beyond Cultural Diversity’ vindt op 29 mei een debat plaats naar aanleiding van dit project. Dit wordt georganiseerd in samenwerking met Museum De Lakenhal, Universiteit Leiden en stichting Framer Framed