Ivana Pirkovska at Chifte hammam (exhibition)

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„The reason man first directed his gaze towards the sky was not only to satisfy his intellectual curiosity. What man was actually looking for in the sky was his own reflection and the order of his human universe.”

  Ernst Cassirer, An Essay on Man

 Ivana Pirkovska postavka (9)

Space, time, virtualization and its art sensation. A game that is constantly renewed. From door to door, from one space to another, oscillating continuously through time past, present and future, here somewhere the magic is hiding of disclosure of the artwork. A new artistic expression and a new “temptation” to reach the pre-source in the quest for a personal and universal truth, in defining our world as part of the infinite Universe : “We find ourselves in an astonishing world. We want to give some meaning to hat we see around us and ask ourselves: What is the nature of the Universe? Where is our place in it, where did it come from and where did we come from? Why is everything as it is? “. (S.Hoking, 2000: 190 )

The exhibition “Virtualization of space – time” is actually the first independent project of sculptor Ivana Pirkovska who belongs to the youngest generation of fine artists. Guided by her contemplative nature, Pirkoska, at the beginning of her creative journey, is really bold in her choice of artistic positions. Her project, with the simple minimalist installations, is reduced to an emphasized conceptual approach, where the central role is that of the play of basic geometric shapes (circle/ball and square/cube). This way she even imposes on us complex questions arising from her special interest in treating problems from the socio-cultural, philosophical-aesthetic, but also scientific and research field. Physics, astronomy, cosmology, Einstein’s theories and questions about the Universe without spatial boundaries, with no beginning and end of time, are the determinants in defining her distinctive artistic approach.

Ivana-Pirkovska-1-480x240Based on this, we can say that the set installations build a complex interactive relationship with the audience, developing deep inside a story as a parallel dialogue on the personal and the cosmic. The key to enter the story is in the Gate, the illusion of pure conceptual lines that vibrate continuously, coming randomly and introducing us unexpectedly somewhere out there, in a new dimension of our imaginary spaces, vaguely touched in our subconsciousness, for it to unexpectedly disappear again, leaving us curiously staring. ” A door, it is a whole cosmos of the Ajar…the source of a daydream where wishes and temptations are collected, the temptation to open up the being to the core of its intimacy, the desire to win all restrained beings.” (G.Bachelard, 2002:302). The infinity of movement and rhythm of life are embodied  through the symbolic play of the circle/hoop and ball in the installation Constellation, referring to the man and his physical, but above all, emotional and spiritual growth, from an embryo to a person, scattered through space – time, as an endless constellation of the human existence. At the same time, the mirror and the reflection in it get an ambiguous symbolism, which refers both to infinity and to the overall illusion of human existence. Hence, in the installation Yesterday, today and tomorrow, the author, with the opposing, parallelly set mirrors, strives to achieve an “integration of thoughts, memories and dreams of man”  who is stuck in the present as a transition between the misty past and vague future.

“The organism is never placed at one point in time. In its lifetime the three forms of time – past, present and future – create a whole that can not be broken into individual elements.” (E. Cassirer, 1998:79). The space-time and the Universe as compositions are placing us upright against a kind of axis of movement, through the crossed lines of strings/rope, which takes place endlessly in space and infinitely in time, putting us in this way in the center of an abstract equation that is impossible to be interpreted using the principle of simple sensory experience. In this sense, M . Bahtin would emphasize “… I find myself at the borderline of the horizon of my view, the visible world is spread before me, but I can never see the line that separates me from the world and the one that outlines me in it.”

 The modern advances in the field of science and technology and the intensive technological progress undoubtedly rekindled a series of questions about man and his existence, about the reliability of our sensory experience, the origin of the world and of life, our place in the endless Universe. Consequently, the possibilities of artistic expression have become bolder and more open, making the artwork an act of creative dialogue with the observer where experiences and knowledge intertwine, both of the personal and the collective consciousness and memory. Somewhere in this frameworks the idea is born and grows of this young author who, deeply in her intimate world, tries to interpret the picture of the Universe and to tell the story of man placed at the crossroads between space and time. To capture the elusive, to keep the transient moment, to find the way to eternity, finally, to find our place in the constellation of endless human existence – this is what each of us is trying to reach. That is why we have a past, that is the reason we exist in the present and hope for the future. We fantasize or dream, ponder and wish… “One can show his entire life if one described all the doors he has closed, and all the doors he wishes to reopen. But is it the same being that opens a door and closes  one?” (G. Bachelard 2002:304)

Маја NedelkoskaBrzanova

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