Abandoned Mystery of the Conjuction
Abandoned Mystery of the Conjuction is based on the intricacies of semantics, memory, time, and the my interests in mythology and alchemy. Mysterium Coniunctionis (Latin: “mystery of the conjunction”) is a term psychoanalyst Carl Jung used to describe mystical paradoxes; that the basis of the alchemistʼs endeavor was the archetypal union of opposites by means of the integration of opposing polarities. I collected channel letters from businesses that went bankrupt or closed down due to the economic recession since the summer of 2008 in Los Angeles, CA. Using these channel letters as molds, I created life size candles, spelling the word “change”.
This candle lighting ceremony (live performance), attempted to revive these abandoned words, and achieve empirical and contiguous polarities, reflecting on the ambiguous nature of language in relation to the current (ending) economic recession. How does a word radiate time? What patterns can emerge in that space? Viewers witnessed and experienced “change” as melted wax from these candles disintegrated into a trough like vitrine when melted. This burning was filmed and a time based video was the outcome.
The nature of this performance was site-specific set in a former photography gallery that had moved out due to the economic recession. Accompanying this performance was a text piece drawing and two installations.
