Ina Miteva
Keywords: Wood, Cymatics, Portal
Memories of Attunement traces the personal interconnections between body and landscape through the research on Phenomenology of a Portal, where space becomes perception and presence becomes sensation.
Rooted in childhood memories of caves in Bulgaria’s mountains, the installation listens to the whispers of stone, soil and myth, exploring how the sensual experiences of being present in a place that makes me feel whole and fulfilled can predispose to a more intuitive awareness of the environment. These landscapes, shaped by time, breathe with the stories of those who moved through them. They speak in a spatial language of scale, light, shape, orientation, vibration and acoustics, all of which contribute to the transformation into a portal. As the circular steps of traditional dances echo the relief of the land, the work moves toward a deeper resonance - an attunement to the Earth’s subtle language. It reflects belonging as a feeling that stirs when the outside world begins to mirror the inner one.
The circular structure, made out of a purple-leafed beech, follows the movement of a traditional northern dance - Daychovo horo. It is a response to the memory of my grandfather teaching me the movements in the forest and showing me the views from caves and mountaintops, in the region where he was born. I remember the excitement of being introduced to this heritage of true connection with the land and culture, as if I had a graspable connection to my ancestors. The cymatic patterns in the lake are derived from the sound of this specific dance, while the vibrations can be felt through the entire body, as rivers echo in caves. In the stillness of the water, one can see their reflection, as the self becomes part of the space. The joins in the wood symbolise the two aspects of being grounded in the present and remaining connected to our origins.
