Like treasure maps, we
view these images with only a suspicion of the treasure
they might lead one to. The selection of works draws from
a wide
range of images that present visual thinking from outside
the field of fine art. Spawned from necessity, the unique
qualities of each image are the direct result of the specificity
of the problem each addresses and the question with which
each is concerned.
Chitra Ganesh watched her grandmother make kolams, which
Ganesh describes as "line drawings made of rice flour,
traditionally created on the floor at the beginning of each
morning." She draws on this traditional practice to
inspire her art. In this exhibition, she created kolams in
the manner passed down to her. "Their creation is a
daily practice specific to South Indian culture, and are
most often the work of women and girls. A kolam invites Mahalakshmi
(wealth and fortune) into the home, or protects a space from
the evil eye. The crows are our ancestors, and they are invited
to feed on the rice flour in a kolam’s lines. These
drawings are set at the thresholds of homes and spiritual
spaces to mark a boundary between inside and outside, private
and public, secular and sacred. I am drawn to how the form
is culturally specific and abstract at the same time, and
to its ephemeral and site-specific nature. As the day unfolds,
the image comes undone, and its traces vanish when the ground
is moistened and prepared for the next day’s creation." Ganesh
will make her kolams on the pavement in front of apexart
periodically during the run of the exhibition.
Vinzenz Unger is a Molecular Biophysicist and Biochemist
at Yale University. Here he exhibits a video that pictures
the intricate architecture of molecules that allow cells
to communicate directly. Unger created his video through
a delicate process of making crystals, along with collecting
and analyzing data. Unger explains, "Even within the
tiniest of organism, thousands of molecules need to interact
in a highly coordinated fashion to assure proper cell function.
Therefore it is not surprising that for over half a century,
structural biologists have been drawn to the marvels of the
miniature universe within living organisms. The three traditional
pillars of structural biology are electron microscopy, nuclear
magnetic resonance spectroscopy and x-ray crystallography.
While different in their physical foundations, their capabilities,
and applications, all three methods culminate in a visualization
of structures so tiny that they need to be magnified 10,000,000-fold
to unravel their beauty. The images in this exhibition show
the structure of a molecule known as gap junction, determined
by electron microscopy. The main purpose of gap
junctions is to directly connect neighboring cells in our body, allowing the
cells to directly communicate with one another. In our example, the gap junction
channels connect cells in the heart, and play an important role in maintaining
coordinated current flow through the heart muscle. Discovered by anatomists
almost half a century ago, the detailed structure of these channels remained
a mystery until very recently. The pictures shown here were the first to visualize
architectural details within the individual protein molecules that compose
this complicated molecular tunnel. While not yet at a resolution where we can
see every atom within the structure, interpretations of pictures like those
shown in Treasure Maps allow us to build models of the channel that
help us to understand how these channels work at the molecular level, and why
certain genetic mutations in gap junction channels cause severe disease in
humans."
Elizabeth Streb says that she cannot use traditional dance
notation because her dancers' are hardly on their feet. Therefore
she has developed her own form of dance notation specific
to her dancers distinct way of moving. In Treasure Maps,
these notations are shown alongside documentation of the
annotated dance. Streb's process of notating her choreography
is illuminated when she explains, "The drawings serve
as a schemata /story board/ master plan and as devices to
organize the exploration of a set of conditions. These conditions
vary from piece to piece. In Fly or Up and Down
or Surface there is always a template which designates
the structure we are working on. I repeat that template over
and over, and I then draw stick type action figures within
these outlines, with verbal comments and numbers and arrows
to describe what is happening temporally. Timing is the most
ephemeral idea, it is hard to capture works, or 'designate'....which
means trying to state on a paper surface an exact idea of
the time any one move or movement requires....out of these
isolated moments of 'time-bits' comes the eventual rhythm.
The rhythm of a piece is the deepest part of the 'content'
of action. It is the last idea to surface...it appears magically
after every other question gets 'answered'. Other questions
such as the where, what, how in time space and body. Usually
I color code the different order of events, either with people,
or which move happens at what time."
Tim R. Riley is a professor in the Mathematics Department
at Yale University. In describing his diagrams he says, "This
collection was drawn in the course of mathematical research
in Geometric Group Theory (in some cases working in collaboration
with S. M. Gersten of the University of Utah). They illustrate
arguments in research articles or serve as visual aids and
examples in the course of attacks on problems. Geometric
Group Theory lies at the crossroads of
algebra, geometry and topology. The object of study, Groups, are algebraic
structures concerning symmetries. Many of the images are of van Kampen diagrams,
named after the mathematician who introduced them in an article in 1933. Disctete
groups can be regarded as geometric spaces in which van Kampen diagrams are
combinatorial surfaces spanning loops, in a similar manner to how a soap film
can be made to span a wire loop. At the same time a van Kampen diagram displays
algebraic (or, in a sense grammatical) information concerning interaction between
group elements. The subject of the images in this collection include: van Kampen
diagrams in use as windows onto the underlying group; studies of combinatorial
and geometric features of such diagrams; illustrations of underlying groups
in simple cases; and a transition from the discrete to continuous geometry."
Earle Brown's graphic scores entitled Folio from
1952-3 are shown alongside a contemporary musical interpretation
of his most radical of these scores, December 1952.
Brown is credited for the invention of the "open form," a
compositional technique and philosophy that brings the performer
into a creative collaboration with the composer. Brown's
most radical scores from this period feature no visual references
to traditional musical notation. They describe visually what
he wanted to hear, how he wanted the performers to relate
to the score, how he wanted the musicians to relate to each
other, and the kind of experience he wanted to offer the
listener. As Brown worked on December 1952, he wrote
the following note "… to have elements exist in
space… space as an infinitude of directions from an
infinitude of points in space… to work (compositionally
and in performance) to right, left, back, forward, up down
and/or transitory… a performer must set this all in
motion (time), which is to say, realize that it is motion
and step into it… either sit and let it move or move
through it at all speeds [coefficient of] intensity and duration
[is] space forward and back."
One of the most compelling qualities of Brown's contribution
to music is a balance between freedom of interpretation and
defined structure. This is beautifully explained when he
says, "There must be a fixed (even flexible) sound context,
to establish the character of the work, in order to be called "open" or "available
form". We recognize people regardless of what they are
doing or saying or how they are dressed if their basic identity
has been established as a constant but flexible function
of being alive."
For Treasure Maps, Michael J. Schumacher has linked
Brown's score to the procedures used to generate the structure
of his Room Piece installation. As he explains, "Thirty-one
sounds were chosen, one for each figure in the score. As
the sounds turn on and off the corresponding line is made
visible or invisible. An attempt has also been made to "place" the
sounds in space using the score as a guide."
In every case, the works exhibited in Treasure Maps are
a radical translation of one form into another. The inevitable
loss implicit in translation preserves the mystery of that
which is being represented. Despite the fact that the specific
references of each image may be unknown to the viewer, there
is still an internal logic to intuit and contemplate. In
the end, these images situate us in a place of wonder - somewhere
between the maker’s personal visualization and their
inkling of a treasure contained within it.
Janine Antoni
©2004 |
