Unseen realities
Essay
Digital art:mixed media
2016.
INTRODUCTION
The concept of unseen realities arose out of a desire to explain my own artistic relationship with digital storytelling, which I dubbed the poetic approach to digital storytelling. I reflected on the fact that, as an artist, I was inspired to use abandoned buildings/facilities/structures as backgrounds for my video works, because I perceived them as empty spaces in which I can integrate my thoughts, i.e. my written works. If I added music to it and said it all in my voice – would I not have created some new (future) memory for all those already accustomed to the visual appearance/architecture of this forgotten building? While looking for a backdrop for my texts, I sought an image that would not distract from my text, an image that would not interfere with the amplitude of my words. Such a picture was supposed to be the perfect backdrop for letting my words be heard while still correlating with them in order to create a new future memory of those places we may have forgotten. In the same time with ”future memory” we create empathy.
TEXT
All of the spaces that captured my attention, I translated into an image by fantasizing about them, in a way that I have integrated my thoughts into their walls and surfaces. I remember those spaces now as unseen realities, that I have indeed seen once. I wondered if, by creating a photograph, I give these lonely spaces a feeling of inner immensity. I only wasn’t sure whether I had been, at that time, inside the building, or in front. It doesn’t really matter. What I am certain is that I will remember this image, every time again, in a different way.
Polarity between public and private space, imagination and reality, both urban and rural, has marked my search for all the stories in the future. My search begins at all marked locations in reality and at all unmarked places in my imagination. The first photo you see is an part of abandoned building in the village of Ruskovici, Peljesac Peninsula in Croatia. Without human presence, abandoned building is in interaction with nature, intertwined, they are both symbol of expectancy. My curiosity to tell the story of this building was not based on the facts from the past. Indeed, my desire to build the story which is already living in the future, was even more powerful. Let’s not get confused, writing the story about this exact building means writing a story about me. Almost like rethinking my own identity. Where would I set up this building in my head, in which date and time of the year, and will there be any music? I don’t remember colour of your voice. But I can do it all from the scratch…. Rethink this story and put all the pieces of my memories into one big box. No, never the box, story will be screaming out loud. But yes, somehow, we used the box. You can imagine whatever box you like. Now, we need something visual. For those who are not satisfied with getting lost in ‘Elysées of words’ – we will put photos, we will put videos. This time the building you look corresponds to human imagination and its use in the future will be determined by this off-the-cuff human action. When I tell you my personal story, you will recognize me by the color of my voice. Thas voice of the narrator in the story. And, in the end, you will see how beautifully I stole this building and gave her different meaning. I put my voice, I sing, almost cry, oh, I’m taking you through all areas of my imagination. ©Tina Bikic