Alexandra Petcu
Keywords: Cosmos, Time, Perception
A memory, a dream, an image, share a connotative elusive quality that often times augments the values of reality. Through my artistic practice, I research the nature of perception, its particularities and different perspectives associated with form. Morphing into the roles of observer and creator, I try to bridge dimensions, that eventually meet in my images. These can range from photographic still lives with specific lighting, inspired by the cosmos or sacred myths, the spatial tactility of architectural images, to mixed media series depicting alternate consciousness states. Text as well as the reinterpretation of shapes and sounds as energetic vibrations are an essential part of my workflow.
The broader context of my work dwells on observing present times, where technologies have increasingly become part of life, interacting with the human experience. Starting from a personal lens, as well as referencing a variety of sources, I am investigating transformative factors that shape perception and thus, the human experience. Progressively, I aim to tune in into a state of the present, understood through a prism of the past, looking up to a possible future. I seek to render a gateway towards reflection and perspectives where technologies develop in balance with human consciousness.
GRADUATION PROJECT
Time Moves Different Here
An atmospheric experience, inspired by an imagined cosmic journey.
It is said that time stops for no one. Once a moment is lost it can never return. But what would happen if the pace of how seconds, minutes and hours pass would change? If background noise would stop, boundary lines blur and a portal to an otherworldly place suddenly opens? Searching for a place where the senses perceive beyond time and space is similar to setting foot on the unknown. Fifty-two years ago, the first foot was actually set on the rocky surface of the Moon, an unknown territory until then. The exploration of the cosmos stems from an existential quest for life’s origins and meanings. The cosmic feeling is an intrinsic response to looking up at the sky and understanding that the more questions are asked, the more there is to be discovered. When eyes gaze at the sky, a sense of awe and longing floods the body. Its immensity creates an almost contradictory sensation: you feel lost and connected at the same time.
'Time Moves Different Here' evokes an imagined cosmic journey set in an alternate time and space, where the tangible blends with the ethereal. Here the pulses of time beat consciously and different types of images and sounds become sensorial catalysts for self-reflection.
Graduation project presented on two platforms:
Publication, layflat printed and Appendix leaflet
Audiovisual installation: Video (duration 11 min.) and Projection
THESIS
SYNCING... The Spirit of Times, shaping the Human Experience?
It seems there is a longing for what cannot be fully grasped. For things unseen, untouched, unheard yet. Torn between illusory promises and reality’s confinement, human being has been striving to reach beyond restraints. From the quest to find the philosopher’s stone, to today’s technological breakthroughs, there is proof of searching for more, better, faster. Foreseeable observations made by researchers but not solely, even outline humanity’s crossroad between utopia and dystopia.
Tackling on my curiosity for the nature of things, I attempt to explore through the Thesis, ontological notions between seen and unseen, mainly adressed in Part 01 “Seen and Unseen Shapes”. This relation can also be viewed as the framework of my research. By writing and reflecting, I am searching for answers to questions like: How does perception shape the way we see things? What defines the Human Experience? Is there an inner meaning to a shape? or Why does Rene Magritte deny an apple being an apple?
Furthermore, the Thesis has been written as a quest to develop my understanding of the relation between technology and the human experience. Argued is the fact that technology is one of the main influencing factors in society’s spirit of times, shifting the evolution of mankind, with many benefits. Yet vital questions still arise, starting from the fact that every kind of experience shapes reality in a certain way. Therefore, the reader can find, in Part 02 “Technology and some vital questions”, perspectives on questions like: How is technology shaping the Human Experience? How could it influence perception or sentience? or What could be the implications of emerging A.I? Part 03 “The Crystal Blueprint” aims to connect and bring together main ideas explored, by gradually unfolding the seen and unseen nature of mineral crystals.
The imaginative and research-based artistic inquiry argues for art’s role in offering alternative perspectives. As an artist, I am finding myself spin in the digital whirlwind, unsure of its direction. Thus I tried to address it, by weaving personal interpretations, grounded in literary research, visual media representations and cultural references. Morever, I created specially for the Thesis “Inner Realities”, a series of images inspired by ways of perceiving, synesthesia and the notion of reality being a personal projection. The series aims to be a breathing space for the reader, where his imagination is invited to be free.