Contemporary Art is defined by its diversity of subject and practices. And those various perspectives make us wander around its meaning and its significance to the world. Since Dadaism that our posture on the materiality of our surroundings can be compared to the interest that the old masters found in nude models bodies. Everything can be Art. And when our everyday objects become Art, what would be more controversial than that? Ephemeral Art: "Art that only lasts for a short amount of time".
Ephemeral Art came to question the beauty in the things that already exist, like nature, for instance. Nature has been subject of paintings since forever, this idea that we can encapsulate a dying body, refuse its finite aura in a couple of brush strokes. Ephemeral Art is a raise of awareness of the moving things, of time. Its controversial thinking appeared because we believed Art was forever, an object we were in control of and Ephemeral Art defied it. Ephemeral Art celebrates the sunset entirely, while most people desire to freeze the moment when the sun is setting.
Ephemeral Art demands the viewer to stop and dive deep into themselves. Example of this is "Teratoma", a living sculpture by DURA. A silent self-destructive installation made in 2015. "Teratoma" is a parallelepiped shaped open metal structure holding huge spotlights directed to a robust block of white paraffin wax. The intense bright lights create a hot environment that subsequently is melting the wax block slowly revealing the abstract shaped metal structure underneath it. The whole sculpture feels like it was purposely thought to make us feel uncomfortable: the contrasting lighting of the darkroom versus the painful light to look at; the empty cold room contrasting with the heat of the spotlights. The whole curation feels very much like a staged interaction between the viewer and the artwork: a minimalist but supercharged artwork where the impact on the viewer is undeniable. "Teratoma" is defying the viewer to think about its finite nature. It reminds the viewer that nature is a never-stopping force and that we can't control it. Like our bodies, we cannot stop ageing. Nature is in control of our time, and that is what is so strong about this work.
We are living in a world ruled by technology, at Internet speed, which gives us the feeling that we are in control of all things in our life. Full of gadgets to control how much of a couch potato we are or how our sleeping hours were just on point. When, in fact, we are just losing control of how we value time. The shining destructive aura presented to us by the slow wax waterfalls has this very human but inhuman quality to it as it materialises time in a 4-day long performative act. Human because we can relate to the self-destroying aura but inhuman because it is only an engineered creation.
The title is also intriguing and completes the artist voice in relation to the artwork. "Teratoma" is the name given to a rare tumour, which enlightens us for the fact that this artwork is a whole metaphor for life/death and the impact of technology in it. If the wax is our body, the lights are the chemotherapy that tries to kill the tumour.
DURA says that "Teratoma" stands "for the change that arises through the forces of technologically generated change", an act of trying to reverse nature itself, a fight with the uncertain for the certain.
Ultimately, "Teratoma" may also be referenced to approach climate change. Climate change is the catastrophe, another self-destroying body. It is cancer happening on a bigger scale happening outside of ourselves.
Ephemeral Art is incredibly relevant to expose us to the guilt of the future concerning climate change. Climate change has never been discussed this much ever in the history of Art but artworks approaching the subject focus a lot in addressing time. For example, Olafur Eliasson's "Ice Watch" (London, 2018), is another perfect example of how Ephemeral Art is having a critical role in shaming us for our relationship with nature. "Ice Watch", similar to "Teratoma", it was a living sculpture installation where the viewer could interact with the constantly changing shapes of ice melting blocks exposed to the current temperature in that specific location. The act of moving something that already exists in nature to a different environment speaks for itself but watching the melted iced water run down to its inexistence creates a sense of unavoidable desperation. "Teratoma" and "Ice Watch" makes us feel like we are running out of time. The inner voice warning us about the void that is waiting for us. Both works are connected through time and want to raise awareness of the value of nature and time itself.
"Ice Watch" has a hopeful intent, to change the way we humans interact with nature because it's ending is also our end. "Teratoma" is more dreadful as it exposes our finite nature. We are going to die, and it does not really matter how healthy you eat or how many plastic surgeries you get. We are no different than the animals in the wild, we are not in charge of our own end. It is inevitable. Technology is just a filter to make this feel long-lasting. We belong to nature, and it is in our hands to control how long nature lasts, not the opposite.
Footnotes
Tate. n.d.Ephemeral Art – Art Term | Tate. [online] Available at: <https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/e/ephemeral-art> [Accessed 12 June 2020].
Eliasson, O., n.d.Ice Watch London. [online] Ice Watch London. Available at: <https://icewatchlondon.com> [Accessed 14 June 2020].
Images
"London 15 December 2018 037" by paul_appleyardis licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/
The Artist
DURA is an artist and sound designer based in Berlin and Leipzig. With her artworks, she creates performances and supercharged installations. Her sculptural elements, along with her self-developed sound microcosm and delicately curated actions, her works allow the viewer to surround themselves in an intricate sensory experience. Each carefully chosen element conveys meaning and virtue, to timeless, poetic pictures and situations. DURA confronts our artificial environment and our behavioural with instincts.
She reminds us of the eventuality of eruption and recollection of deeply rooted emotions and needs: beauty meets abyss, grandeur over fear and injury and control over compulsiveness— a balanced act whereby the artist through light and aesthetic compositions enables the viewer to gain sustainable awareness.
studio@mdura.de
Instagram: @mduraart
Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/mdura
Vimeo: vimeo.com/mdurawww.mdura.de
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