The why of the image
Alt-texts are also defined as the ‘why’ of the image. If I upload an image to a website, the interface opens a window where I can enter a description of the image. More precisely it asks to describe the purpose of the image so that it is clear why it is there without loading it. The opposite of this sentence could be to try to imagine the beauty of the text, but the only alternative is to leave the field empty if the image is purely decorative. The elements of the installation working with the quoted phrases are incomplete, and distorted, referring back and forth to each other. They do not give an answer to their presence, but at the same time they thematize their own raison d’être. In the focus on how and why, the message is lost.
The message was lost while I was trying to find the right medium. Everywhere I hit a wall of inexpressiveness. I wanted to say something that couldn’t be expressed in pictures or words, so I searched in between. It seemed to me that there must be something between image and text, something that cannot be described or represented. It exists in this in-between. A sense of existence, with no tangible proof. The installation speaks of a moment of disillusionment. The moment when one realises that there is no complete understanding. There is no flawless mediation. What remains? A game of absence and the imagination that fills it.
The work has been shown at:
Islands and their possibilities
The Why of the Image
Installation
(wood, c-print, mouse pad, wall paint)
ca. 200 x 300 x 350 cm
2023