The human remains presents as a type of epistemology. It provokes questions regarding our perception of self and with the super forces of existence and infinity.
Caspar David Friedrich meets the New Age in Alesh Macak’s metaphysical meditation on the sublime and our relationship to it. With a sound-track evocative of those hippy–trippy binaural beats and the kaleidoscopic mirroring of imagery (landscapes of vast rocks, flowing water, gushing waves, expansive skies, the natural and man-made world) becoming a regenerating mandala, no longer are we looking from the top of the precipice, now we are immersed; looking within it, through it, and beyond it. For me this is the most mesmerising and evocative element of the installation.
The sandpit (in the room, under the seat) is a benign paradox in relation to the transcendental imagery on the screens. It plants our feet firmly beneath the bench, a reminder of our biological embodiment yet it takes us on a journey of associative memories and sensory stimulation. Nostalgic of childhood, its confines are restricted yet it provokes play and the creation of imaginary (unseen) realms.
Meanwhile, in deep space entire galaxies explode and mutate throughout a multi-dimensional expanse of time that is impossible to comprehend.
Alesh Macak, The human remains, Westspace, Melbourne, 24 February – 17 March 2012.
