'In Timeaus, (Plato) invokes a mythological bridge between the intelligible and the sensible, mind and body, which he calls chora'. (p.47)
Taken from Women, Chora, Dwelling by Elizabeth Grosz. Chapter 4 Postmodern Cities & Spaces, edited by S. Watson & K. Gibson.
"For Khora is an 'abyss', a void of empty space; it is also an infinite play of reflections in which the paradigms produce their images, simply 'reflecting' sensible things like a mirror that is not altered by the image it reflects"
(p.84-86). Taken from Deconstruction in a Nutshell; a conversation with Jacques Derrida, Chapter 3, Khora: Being Serious with Plato, edited by J. Caputo.
'Khora hovers on the very edge of nothingness, never showing itself as itself, but only in conjunction with the presence of the elemental bodies, as a trace of “something,” which can never itself be made present'
Review of 'Chorology: On Beginning in Plato’s Timaeus by John Sallis', by Colin Anderson.
Artist's Statement
This project was interested in the interrelationship between time and space, and how a shift in the relationship can trigger new thoughts and ideas. I was interested in deterritorialising space, and using green space as my subject matter, as this had been such a personal comfort to me during lockdown; a period of uncertain, decommodified time.
I have always been interested in the visual language of science fiction, the surreal and the uncanny. Phantasmagoria and historical projection technologies, such as the Magic Lantern, explored the audience's perceptions of possibility and imagination. The ethereal nature of projection was the perfect medium for exploring space. Having worked in unconventional spaces in my artistic practice over the last few years (a lecture theatre, a shopping mall, a kitchen), I was keen to try to bring a new experience or perspective into a gallery space. Could I transport nature into a gallery or encourage the audience to see the gallery space in an unusual way?
The philosophies of Irigaray, Massey, Deleuze and Guattari, Mulvey and Urry have all influenced my work through their theories, including critiquing traditional patriarchal perceptions of space, and postmodern approaches to film, time and meaning. Although installation practice is relatively new to me, my interests have always been in layering and reframing the familiar, and I think this work achieves that. I settled on time-based media for my projections, as this was the best method for showing those layers and playing with the concept of capturing an audience’s time and gaze. My research into philosophy and gaze theories, for example, Mulvey’s Female Gaze and Urry’s Tourist Gaze, have informed what I am now trying to do with the audience, as well as key concepts in Barthes’s Camera Lucida. In a world of competing factors for our attention, I am interested in getting us to look and gaze, and to do that, time is a crucial element. As Massey argues in her conceptual work, seeing space as ‘static, closed, immobile, as the opposite of time’, is problematic. Space needs to be ‘liberated’ from the ‘chains of meaning’, in order for it to have ‘a new, more productive life’, and for me, the moving image was a good platform to use to explore this idea. The philosophical concept of ‘Khora’ was a useful tool to do this also; exploring the bridge between the Symbolic with the Real, the digital with the natural, and time with space. My ingredients of digital projection, mirrors and a gallery, all share a ‘Khoral’ nature, in that they hold the imprint of my work, but leave no trace themselves. We are able to gaze at them for a period of time, breaking our routine and bodily movement to pause and reflect, and hopefully giving rise to new thoughts and feelings. The use of the mirrors also helps ‘open up a new space in the void’ which is only an illusion, like our limited perceptions of space we carry as part of a western, Capitalist ideology.
I hope that by mesmerising the audience with the effect of optical illusion, we see that, like Marx’s critique of the original ‘Phantasmagoric’ phenomenon, which he used as a metaphor for Capitalism, the real forces are hidden from view and we see only the commodity; we become passive spectator. Our real connections, time and agency can be lost in the digital vortex, or the powerlessness of a passive gaze.
I hope by breaking with the normal presentation of a film in the gallery space, and producing a film created from my local environment, from very ordinary subject matter, I can showcase the possibility of our collective imagination to make changes to our everyday uses of our time, as well as pointing out the dangers of only engaging with green space digitally. We ignore the real beauty of our local environment at our peril. The film also enabled me to play around with clock-time. Through editing I could slow down, speed up, or even rewind moments for the audience (mixing the ‘thenness’ with the ‘nowness’of the experience of the audience through motion and stillness, as argued by Mulvey in Death 24x a second). Creating a loop with no end or beginning was also a way to demonstrate these ideas and how time can slip away from us when we overindulge the digital.
I hope this project will be able to be ongoing, as it would be great to see the work in new, unusual settings, such as commercial or community spaces. As the work is concerned with space, it would be interesting to see how the installation feels in other contexts, and how it is received by different audiences, at different times. The idea of ‘Khora’ and possibility could be explored further by bringing other creatives into the installation space to work and create new collaborations.
I intentionally used the corner to create the work; the dark, dusty unused space in a gallery. I hope, as a metaphor, is not lost on the audience. Our local environments and green corners can become overlooked and abandoned, if we forget they exist, threatening their very existence.
"KHORA Inspired by Plato’s Allegory of the Cave and the dark history of Victorian Phantasmagoria, Khora, invites you in. As we emerge from our lockdown caves, debating the physical boundaries of work and life, this installation invites participants to stop and gaze at the wonder of nature, or an apparition of it. The work raises questions about how the beauty and healing power of green space can compete in the ever-dominating gaze of a technological and virtual world. Does the power of the digital gaze ultimately reduce our agency and presence within our real, local, environments; threatening their very existence? Where does the outdoors fit into our new normal?
You are invited to use the seating provided to relax and watch the film for as long as you wish. The film runs for 7.40 minutes and was shot at Cannon Hill Park, the River Rea and surrounding green areas.