"Memesis"
2003 Perth Institute of Contemporary Art
When nature is considered as an ideology it could be seen as a systematic scheme of ideas held by particular social, political and cultural groups and that what we define as nature is a human (intellectual) construct. How we restructure nature around us is an historical and contemporary attempt to build a network of ideologies. Thus defining landscape, nature and ourselves in the process.
Landscape encompasses private and personal narratives built on shared and cumulative knowledge over time. Therefore what signifies landscape and by relation ourselves has been subject to change over time. Stable meaning and identity remains elusive for there is no single signifier that could possibly encompass the complex networks of signifiers that make up landscape. To find something only to have it concealed, experienced yet to be denied an understanding of its full meaning, represents the paradox of relations with landscape.
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That
places are read with memory adds another dynamic to the play of signifiers.
Often memory plays a perceptual role in understanding the image of the
landscape. The inclusion of memory and the imagination as a significant
signifier of a place is an attempt to understand and ground present contexts
through previous experiences. Memory is always already present grounding
perception in an otherwise shifting context. Quicktime
movie 1 -user interacting with Memesis- 6mb |
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As
the user walks into the installation, the participant’s point of
view within the world is moved backwards, out of the world. As the participant
progressively moves out of the room the point of view within the 3d world
progressively returns to its original equilibrium position. As the user moves so does proximity and hence volume to certain sounds. With each participant’s steps, words and sentences are randomly generated then whispered and panned from left to right speakers, generating a constantly changing narrative. If the participant stands still for any length of time the screen begins to mist up, which then gradually lifts when the participant takes the next step. |
When
the participant reaches the closest point to the screen) the screen is
rendered black, leaving a small eye like aperture through which the world
can vaguely be seen. |
To
find something only to have it concealed, experienced only to be hidden
represents the paradox of relations with landscape. Memesis attempts to
deal with the “blindness at the heart of seeing” so prevalent
within Australian cultural relations. Notions of landscape both real,
imagined and virtual (if in fact there is a difference) are enveloped
in paradoxical spatiao- cultural contingencies. The visual elusiveness
of Memesis, denies the gaze its ability to make what it sees property,
and outlines the paradox embodied in notions of experiencing nature. |
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Mark Cypher received a Master of Visual Arts in Sculpture, in 1995, from Sydney University, Australia, and is currently a Senior Lecturer and Program Chair for Multimedia at Murdoch University - Western Australia. Mark also began his PHD in 2004 researching Actor Network Theory in relation to interactive artworks. Cypher has participated in several international exhibitions, including “404” II International Festival of Electronic Arts, Rosario, Argentina, and “Biophilia” at the Perth International Arts Festival, Curtin University, Western Australia. Cypher has also exhibited work in various museums and galleries across Australia, including , the Western Australian Art Gallery, Sunshine Coast Gallery, Melbourne Contemporary art show and the Casula Powerhouse, Sydney. Cypher’s work is also held in several state and national collections such as the Art Gallery of Western Australia, ArtBank-Sydney, Casula Powerhouse-Sydney, Curtin University of Technology and University of Western Australia.