“here” & “now”

participatory, 360 video, installation | 2017

This project was created during my residency at the Arteles Creative Center in Finland.

The Buddhist concept of Impermanence and Nothingness are at the center of my recent art practices. I have been working on a series of abstract videos shot on a macro lens prior to coming to Arteles. The process of filming and editing elements that we normally won’t see with our natural eyes taught me to follow the flow, trust my intuition and embrace chance in the creative process.

The wheat field across from Arteles had been calling me since the first week I arrived. It was wide open, silently waiting for it’s time to be cultivated. In Vincent Van Gogh’s Wheat Fields painting it serves as a metaphor for humanity’s cycles of life, as both celebration of growth and realization of the susceptibility of nature’s powerful forces. I decided to explore the relationship between macrocosm and microcosm through the observation of individual’s consciousness mind in relation to time, memory and place. The wheat field became the ideal location. The resulting project is this 360˚ interactive video documentation of the participatory event named: “here” and “now”. In “here” and “now” fellow artists were invited to walk alone to the center of the field where they find fragmented memories (donated objects collected from participants, scanned and printed on paper). Their thoughts and feelings toward nature, memory or the moment were written on a notecard and left in the field. The audience may choose any view points from the 360˚ video as they wish by navigating camera angle and distance to follow the participants or simply enjoy nature and explore the scenes.