L22

sleep , people , relate , transformation , feel , experimenting , superman , music , clark kent , perceive , situation , imposter syndrome , image , hole , state , clicking , realise , trigger , transporting , dreams 

My first impression when I look at the booth with Superman and Clark Kent, already refers to a transformation from the inside to the outside. If I relate it to my childhood, it has to do with what people think of you and what you think of yourself. What you perceive from the inside of yourself, and what do others perceive about you. It also related to an imposter syndrome, when others tell you that you are doing great and you feel like you do nothing but struggling. For me it’s more complicated than just “doing great”. So, Superman would be this person that people really admire and look up to, whereas Clark Kent is maybe just chilling on the side and doing his journalistic work, a simpler, day to day character, somehow.

An image of the hole when Alice is entering the Wonderland. To me, this really relates to the time I go to sleep, because then there is a lot going on; you pass from a “normal” situation or “normal” life to something that is new and you don't control, where you sometimes have to make choices -or not. I feel like I have that a lot in my dreams and it is of great importance. It is a new situation and it is quite intense. I engage also physically sometimes. Yes, it's really, really intense. And even if you talk about it with others, you actually experience it only by yourself. So, when telling it to others, they cannot really perceive it. This image of Alice is about day-to-day life. For me, I think this would relate to making art while in the art school. Because it's also this thing, that you're experimenting and you're always exposed to inputs and creation. And you have a lot of doubts as well, because you're in the process and often you don't know. You're really uncertain about the future. Also, you are in in a bubble and you realise that it's hard to explain things about your artistic practice to other people who are not in this bubble. Everyone has their own way of making and experimenting in similar or completely different ways, but what is also true about the art school is that people tend to reduce it. They say “oh yeah, you do paintings and drawings or something like that”. For them it’s easy. But come on!

I am actually quite intrigued by the third image because it's a reference I don't I know. It could be teleportation, right? A sort of change of the body or place but I would ask for clarification. (…) Ok, so I understand it as a tunnel, kind of a tunnel to go from one place to the other. 

I think what all three cards have in common this element of physical transformation. I mean a change of state maybe even for the Enterprise, it it's a change of the physical realm, you are in a space and then you're in another space.  And I guess they're all taken from popular culture, important characters that people know and they can identify themselves with. Or they have characteristics that come before words, like a password to a certain message for a population who can get that message, who will see it. I feel they're quite different to each other. So, Star Trek would be some kind of technology. And then the other two are like executive portals, yes, kind of a portal. I guess  that's the word that connects them. So, there is the Transporter, a hole and a glass.

For me a device to open such a possibility, is clicking my fingers. It's a kind of a reflex. Sometimes just to awaken myself while in some bizarre situation. I think that is more like a straightforward way of transporting, like, I am thinking that I want to be there, but for some reason I cannot go now so I'm just doing this. At the same time, it is a way of grounding because I acknowledge that I am still here, clicking my fingers. In fact, I cannot even click them properly. It doesn't make the right sound.

I don't know if I have an actual moment of transformation or shift or change of state I can recall, but I know that this happens to me with music, like boom-boom music. And I have this one music track that makes me move to the right direction. Actually, that’s how it’s called: “Move to the right direction”, by Gossip. This song acts like a trigger for me. If I am in a certain state of mind and listen to this song, I know. It puts me in a whole other mindset. It has quite an upbeat pop groove, it's a bit jolly. And the lyrics are like “one step closer to feeling fine, moving one day at a time, I'm moving in the right direction”. And so it's, I don't know, it’s triggering.

I think music in general is transformative for me. For a lot of other reasons. Sleep for example. I have problems sleeping, I am waking up in the middle of the night because of dreams, and then I listen to music for a couple of minutes. And it brings me back to sleep. Three minutes and I'm just back in quiet. I think your brain can make sense. I mean, you make an association with some type of mechanism. Like a friend of mine who trained himself to go to sleep with a podcast. Now his brain knows, and if he listens to a podcast, he is about to sleep.

Device: clicking fingers

Transition: step 

Interface: music