Setsuna 刹那
2020
Tracing paper, black marker
In Buddhism, the Sanskrit word ‘ksana’ represents a tiny unit of time eluding our conscious awareness while within it, a lot happens. In each ksana of approximately 0.013 seconds, the ‘born, live, die’ cycle loops in human consciousness.
Setsuna 刹那 (Japanese for ‘ksana’) is an installation transforming individual drawings into a three-dimensional object. The drawings made on translucent paper show straight lines representing a time axis. Crumpled into a ball and folded open again, the paper shows a physical memory of the crumpling. Straight lines are reborn from curves.
The process of crumpling and straightening the paper is repeated until the showcase is completely filled up, allowing for the visual interweaving of individual drawings. The interlacing of lines represents the complex events in life happening during each setsuna. The clear glass of the showcase symbolises the perceptive human mind containing the accumulation of time, experience, knowledge, history and emotions.
Ayumi Adachi
10/10/20 - 04/11/20
003
Stop.Drop.Roll
2020
Inkjet photographic prints
The command 'Stop, Drop, Roll' is a device of fire safety to self-extinguish when the body is in flames. It connotes a necessary and urgent change of course through a series of abrupt actions.
Influenced by such safety devices, this work seeks to address the human experience when altered by the hands of others, and aims to question the social safety mechanisms we use to ensure our personal welfare. Often learned in childhood, we memorize a set of cultural and shared cues that promise success. Yet, despite the daily, at times devotional, practice of them, they fail us.
The first diptych of the vitrine depicts a hand reaching for a flame followed by trails of smoke in the adjoining image, suggesting a sudden transition by an unidentifiable other. The interior view of the vitrine shows a figure on its side with contorted arms and feet barely grounded, signifying a state of uncertainty.
Stephanie Paine
06/07/20 - 08/10/20
002
Cheapest trophy from the local trophy shop
2012 - 2020
Gilded plastic — purchased object
I bought the trophy in 2012 from a trophy shop in the neighbourhood where I live in Sofia, and asked a friend to make the sign on it. Since then it has stayed in my studio. It is dedicated to all who like to see and put art into national categories and contexts, and all the competitions and competitors in and out of art.
Miná Minov
07/06/20 - 03/07/20
001