ARKHIPELAGOS (NAVIGATING THE TIDES OF TIME) 2013 Three-channel digital HD animation 20 min, seamless loop, silent
Arkhipelagos (Navigating the Tides of Time) is a sequel to A View from the Other Side, connected by the element of moving water. Here we are faced with the aftermath of a possible future catastrophe. A group of free-floating, half-sunken, wooden rafts are bobbing up and down in an undulating sea, exposing only their ragged masts. The rafts seem to gravitate towards each other creating temporary groupings, only to be parted again - carried away by the winds and currents. The motif of the work references the iconic, historic painting The Raft of the Medusa (1818-19) by the French Romantic painter Théodore Géricault. The painting depicts the aftermath of the wreck of the French naval frigate Méduse (1816) where all but fifteen died in the thirtheen days before their rescue. Those who survived endured starvation, dehydration and practiced cannibalism. As no signs of humans appear, the viewer is forced to imagine the proceeding catastrophic event. If any survivors remain, they would be left to navigate in a place with no geographical reference points. Here, only time and weather reign. Without geographical coordinates, the only means of locating oneself is to navigate by the stars, the infinite cosmos beyond earth. These moving images of natural forces draw our attention to current social, economical and environmental concerns. The changing seasons and divergent weather patterns dramatically imply the eternal inevitability of the passage of time. Within this realization, a promise of a new beginning is simultaneously spurred.