Ennoia, 2002 Cast-concrete vessel, water, artist's body, video projection, 6-hour immersion, sound;
Sound in collaboration with Stephen Vitiello. Courtesy of the artist and Diapason Gallery, New York City. Photo: Hermann Feldhaus.
Ennoia, 2002
During six-hour time I am immersed in a water-filled octagonal basin reminiscent of a medieval baptismal font (its prototype is in a church in Wroclaw, Poland,) made from cast
concrete. I am lying curled up in an embryo-like position, moving gradually along the walls of the vessel, going under and re-emerging above the surface of water. A hydra-phone
is installed inside the vessel to record the sounds from the inside. The sound mixed and altered by the sound artist permeates the gallery room. The image seen from the "bird's
eye" is projected on the wall beyond the baptismal font.
Water evokes in me a desire to immerse myself, to be away from the world and to hide in, (not from,) disappearance. "Ennoia," from the Greek (in Plato) means "concept" and "a
thought in mind." Inspired by Gnostic texts I think of Ennoia as an edge of light, of consciousness, collapsed into this world, into body, into darkness. In Ennoia I merge and
disappear in a womb-like universe, I am both hiding in water and in anonymity, and exposing the self to the outside gaze. When a viewer looks at my immersed in water silhouette
she also sees her own reflection; at times, in the projected image of the immersion on the wall, she will notice my gaze returning hers.
