Place Imprint

Studio of Noor Ibrahim / Yogyakarta / Indonesia

Technika / 1500 x 1500 mm / dřevěná deska, listy, kameny, skleněná koule, kusy dřeva z řeky

The engraving, which is generated by the elements - the sun and the wind, creates a unique imprint of the place itself. I use the randomness of the air flow and the intensity of sunlight to record the situation over time.

The analogous recording mechanism is based on the concept of a harmonograph. The arms, moved by the wind, lead a magnifying glass, which circulates above the object and, with the help of concentrated sunlight, creates a record in the medium.

As a medium for this writing, I used objects washed up by the river where this process takes place. The environment thus determined its own medium. These objects originated elsewhere and were accidentally washed away by the river where I found them. By traveling to the place, they became part of it. The randomness of the influences necessary for notation prevents the given result from being predicted.

Randomness is one of the values with which nature works, the amount of chance in it cannot be regulated or predicted. This gives it the ability of a self-regulatory mechanism to create and eliminate deviations, thus maintaining stability. 

The impossibility of calculating the result of an imprint makes it unpredictable, at the same time the exact same imprint could not be created elsewhere. The connectivity between the resulting pattern and the place of origin thus creates a unique imprint. The very imprint created by compressing a given situation into one whole shows us an overview of the overall events in space. The imprint thus becomes an extract from the place where it was created, working with perceptions hidden from us, both visually and temporally.

Documentation of solar engraving generated by the environment