In our memory, we bring the past to life. Based on it, we
construct images of the future. We forget, deconstruct, or supplement and
reconstruct our memories. We wander through our memories in search of answers
to the challenges of the present or future prospects. All these possibilities
of memory testify to its extraordinary plasticity and, at the same time, its
significant role in shaping human essence. This means that it is possible to
study memory at the level of such plastic human qualities as sensations and
intuition, i.e., at the level of art.
The goal of the art project «The Myth of the Ship of Memory» is to find a reference point for
infinity, which is located in our present and opens up paths to the past and
future.
By paying attention to how the focus changes in the process of
remembering, long-forgotten images emerge. Over time, the focus of our attention
changes under the influence of external or personal circumstances, and new
horizons of the future are outlined. By exploring memory as a plastic material,
the narrative of which changes throughout the existence of its carrier, a
person or society, we see how narrative memory is, how it unfolds in time not
only in the past but also captures the future. We see how the spatial-temporal
orientation of memory can change vectors and, accordingly, transport the
carrier into a different, new reality.
In developing the concept of an artistic
and imaginative study of memory, we turn to the experience of creating a myth
that exists in a specific space, has its origins, driving forces, and finale,
as well as a central figure who occupies a special place. The model of the Ship
of Memory, which travels in the ocean of time between the «Morning Star» and the «Evening Star», is
built on the principle of myth. These two figures symbolize the beginning of
the day and the beginning of the night — basic elements that simultaneously
reflect the repetitiveness and diversity of the cyclical nature of the
space-time in which memory exists.
Attempting to conquer and direct the course
of the Ship, the figure of the «Helmsman» stands at the stern. Just as
consciousness can evoke images of the past or distance itself from them, so He
steers the ship, which sometimes picks up speed and sometimes slows down,
passing along the paths of the past or opening up new horizons of the future.
At the same time, the driving force of the ship is its rowers — images of
emotional states that stimulate the process of remembrance. These states are
two opposites: calm and peace, and tension and longing. They evoke our thoughts
about the past and the future, or immerse us in these dimensions, even against
our will. The rowers of the Ship of Memory are four figures of thinkers: «Under the Sun», «By the River», «Midnight Reflections», and «In Prison». One
only has to succumb to their influence, and then the rowers accelerate the
Ship's movement through the expanses of time that open up in our memory.
However, no matter what paths the Ship takes, it always only approaches the
future. The figurehead of the ship, «Trumpeting Angel»,
symbolizes the inevitability of the future. He is always ahead and indicates
that every path taken has its own result and logical conclusion. A special
place in the compositional ensemble of figures is at the intersection between
them in the center. The viewer is invited to take this place and become the
central figure of the project, filling the myth with their own images and
guiding the Ship of Memory along their paths.
Andriy Nikiforov