by Weronika Trojańska // July 28, 2011
Sound is everywhere. It is surrounding us, even when we don’t think about it, even when we do not hear anything, or rather…especially, when we do not hear anything. It comes from space, from ourselves, from our souls. The whole universe is composed from different sounds, which are produced by every single structure. “When we hear those vibrations our system of molecules vibrates with them” – said Catherine Christen Hennix in her lecture at the opening of her exhibition in Grimmuseum 7 Homotopies (How One Becomes The Other), on until 14. 08. 2011.
“NUR”, computer animation; Photo by Laura Gianetti
“Red/Blue Homotopy”, ink jet prints; photo by Laura Gianetti
The opening of the eighth edition of the series Whistle Minotaure! curated by Francesco Cavaliere and Marcel Türkowsky, took place exactly 50 years after the first presentation of Henry Flynt’s Concept Art at the AG Gallery in New York. C.C. Hennix is re-staging this show in Grimmuseum Berlin, adding documents that were left out in the original exhibition.
However important the historical background of this show is though and however far the essence of mathematical calculus in her artistic implementations can make you travel, Hennix’ s 7 Homotopies (How One Become The Other) is mainly one of those experiences after which you may never remain the same.
Two installations in different places of the gallery are based on sound and light. Expanding the consciousness they open the mind to new sensations, to new comprehensions of what we use to call “represented world”. Conducting a dialogue – one space is transforming into reverse of the other. In one room composition is repeated every 6 hours, in the second – every 36 milliseconds. In the time dimension they cancel each other because they go forwards and backwards, but Hennix brought into being a situation which is out of time. Both compositions seem to be the same – only your body can recognize different tempos of vibrations. When you hear them, you can experience the ground melting under your feet or think that the sound is not coming from this Earth. It penetrates and pervades inside you, shudders like feeling of cold or like a tremor shaking your body.
Communing with Hennix’s works can experience peculiar type of meditation, introducing into a state of artistic hypnosis.
C.C. Hennix live; Photo by Laura GianettiRelated to the sound installations the pictorial representations of mathematical functions remind about optical art or optical instruments used, for example, to put someone into trance. Metallic surfaces of paintings covered with black smoke seem to reflect nothing. But in conjunction with pulsating light and sound they can mirror what is normally hidden.
Hennix compared sound to medicinal tonic. But like every medication is not a panacea for everything and for everyone. You are taking it and you never know how long you have to wait for results. They can come very soon, even when listening to, or much later, when you get to your “normal” (everyday) life. They can come unexpectedly, like a miracle, and you may understand the sense of their meaning. But you never know what this would mean for you…
Lecture by C.C. Hennix; Photo by Laura Gianetti
Additional Information
GRIMMUSEUM
“Whistle Minotaur! 08”:
“7 Homotopies (How One Becomes The Other)” – CATHERINE CHRISTER HENNIX
Exhibition: July 15–August 14, 2011
Concerts:
Sunday, July 31, 4–7 pm
Saturday, August 6, 6–9 pm
Sunday, August 14, 4–7 pm; Admission: 20 Euros
Fichtestr. 2 (click here for map)
