From the Worlds to the World is a new installation by Giovanna Cerise at the R&D Gallery, Diotima, in Second Life. Occupying the entire gallery space, this is a complex installation to unravel, incorporating as it does elements of post-modernism, philosophy, logical progression, nature, geometry – whilst also, perhaps, promoting a discussion on what is the role of past and present in influencing the future.
Produced entirely in black-and-white, this is perhaps a stark piece, but there is a natural symmetry to it. Set against a black surround, the white forms within the installation are made up of geometric elements denoted by fine black lines – geometry being both a basic expression of both nature and intelligence. In all, the installation comprises three parts, perhaps analogous to the concepts of past, present and future, and which represent the evolution of intelligence.
“The first part of the installation can be seen as an archetype of nature, now incorporated and reduced to its geometries,” Giovanna states in introducing the work. Given the overall framework of the installation, I’d venture the opinion that in this instance archetype is being used to reference Jungian archetypes – universal, archaic patterns and images from the collective unconscious which form inherited potentials, which are transformed once they enter consciousness and are given particular expression by individuals and their cultures – and the idea that as universal patterns within the collective unconscious, they exist as a kind of primordial suspension, without individual structure and form.
Thus, in this first second of the installation, we are confronted with a chaotic form, uneven, broken, but with its geometry holding the promise of potential, of becoming individually / culturally and collectivity more.
From this the installation progresses through and initial shape and patterns in which human forms can be seen – a reference, it would seem to the rise of intelligence and self. A time when we shape and drive the world around us, while being both apart from it (humanity over nature?), yet wholly constrained by it – as evidenced by the shapes rising and folding out of, so to speak, the same geometric forms as seen in the initial part of the installation.
Beyond these lies the future: a place where individually no longer exists per se, and the identical reigns. A point at which intelligence has homogenised, There is no need for bodies nor the baser needs of humanity. Life has again become unified, archetypes woven together through their universality. A time has been reached where individuality or culture are no longer required. Nor is there need for dialectical discussion or reasoning; all that is required is uniformity and experiential growth and perfection of the whole.
As a representation discussion of the evolution of intelligence, From the Worlds to the World (“worlds” and “world” perhaps again a reference from separate cultural environments and attitudes to the single, homogeneous “whole”) is – as noted – a complex piece. While it may well point to a time where dialectical discourse is no longer required, it nevertheless encourages it, just as it also promotes more philosophical consideration of our own development and growth. Are we really to rise from the “primordial” homogeneity of initial instinctual intelligence to a point where the potential of the individual (be it person or cultural) is to be only a span of time before we are once again absorbed into a single whole once again, uniform of thought and goal?
These latter elements: the opportunity for considered thought and discussion make – for those willing to dwell on interpreting the installation – From the Worlds to the World an ideal opportunity for a shared visit.
- From the Worlds to the World (Gigli Waves, rated: Moderate)
