Departure port – Rhodes

Actions/elements of the project

In Rhodes, the work consisted of the following parts:

Waves

A large-scale design, drawn with metallic paint over stripes of handmade paper, instigates a poetic space, like the imprint of a sea relief that gets transformed through the reflections of light. Coarse, raw salt laid scattered on the floor and followed the undulations of the work, evoking the foam of sea waves. The natural salts from the Bastion’s stone walls after patiently absorbing the humidity of the space, developed like natural expansions of the work.

18 Notes on a Grief

A modular work that developed across a sequence of metallic showcases, introduced the visitor to the darkness of mourning. The 18 short works seek to honor the clarity of the words of the authors. The works were presented in 6 small showcases – tables like opened pages of a diary. The light reflections on its last metallic component and the shadows of the iron showcases acted symbolically as a guided
axis leading from the vastness of the empty space to the lightness of the Waves installation.

Clepsydra / Hourglass

In the bowels of St. George’s Bastion centuries-old stalactites have been morphed. Their discreet sound of water dripping created an idiosyncratic rhythm that was transferred into the hall, through microphones. The Bastion is indeed instilling. In addition, Heron’s fountain, a Hellenistic device of circular flow, reconstructed by chemical glass laboratory equipment,
commented on the fluidity of time.

This unique clepsydra (hourglass – an ancient device used to measure the passage of time) – sensitively displayed the eternal flow of time , the changing, indeterminate rhythm of personal time and the poetic concentration of sentiments in tear drops.

Performance

The installation together with the architectural space functioned as a three-dimensional music score for the two distinct sound performances, presented at the end of the exhibition. During the performances, the melodic line of the voice followed the drawing lines of the artworks. The chosen sound colors were inspired by the reflections of the Waves. Text fragments by the 18 Notes on a Grief were used as abstract lyrics of the musical work. Scattered words, voices, breaths, phrases, old recordings, sought ‘contact’ with people and their stories.

Space as a modal element in shaping the installation

The installation is site specific, i.e. it is defined and configured based on the space in which it is implemented.

In Rhodes, the Hall of St. George’s Bastion, an enclosed, stone and secure architectural space with a curved roof, provided the necessary framework for the unfolding of the work. Its curvature acted as an embrace, while the skylights in the roof illuminated its darkness offering view corridors of elevation and communication. Its 600 years old history was highlighted by the real time sound of the instilling stalagmites, caused by the moisture in the cave-like conditions of its bowels.At the entrance, the fountain of Heron welcomed the visitors, bathed in the light that poured down from the one and only uncovered skylight. The fountain recalls the cycle of life and perpetual flow.

The skylights penetrated both the roof dome and the floor. The light, arriving from the depths of the space as well, invited the visitors’ gaze to seek the end of the depth and face the bottom of the sea.

The building’s marks of salt on the floor and walls acted as guides for the natural raw salt that had been spread out forming foams of waves. The moisture of the space absorbed by the salt, created eventually natural wet forms under the Waves.

Dialogue-engagement with the audience

TRANSIENS NOSTRUM is not a static installation but interacts dynamically with the visitor. Throughout the project, visitors are invited to wander within the installation space, to observe the light reflections on the drawing, the changing luminosity of the sculptural volumes, the shadows created by the moving bodies and the subtle, water related sound environment. Within a safe spatio-temporal field of connection, the visitors intertwine their experiences of loss, attempting a crossing of reconnection with life.

The exhibition seeks to create an abstract poetic space that addresses Loss through the spectrum of personal experience. Visitors are invited to share their personal testimonies, collected and recorded by external experts and organizations – such as the Istorima Archive and the University of the Aegean, with whom we collaborated in Rhodes. Through this experience of communication, the visitors interact and -to a certain extent- shape the installation itself.

TRANSIENS NOSTRUM thus activates synergies with other institutions and research groups. Wishing to create the groundwork for a network, extends across the Mediterranean, turning Loss into Relation.