Anamnesis (Swiatlo Dnia), 2006 Limited edition color prints/stills from video based on performative installation.
Video and sound created and edited by the artist. Elements of the installation: Cut grass, cotton, sickles, graphite, crayons, thread, stones, invited women and man who live in Trancoso,
Portugal, multi-day performance inside the 12-century castle in Trancoso. Sound includes voices of local inhabitants. Courtesy the artist, The Facto Foundation for Arts, Sciences and
Technology Foundation - Observatory and ASA Art and Technology, London.
Anamnesis (Swiatlo Dnia), 2006 May 14-20, 2006 The Spirit of Discovery Trancoso, Portugal
"Anamnesis (Swiatlo Dnia)" belongs to the video and photography series entitled "Intervals," which result from site-specific and large-scale outdoor installations. As part of these installations,
a performative action occurs and usually takes from one to several days. The artist lies on the ground, which is covered by white cotton sheets. For many hours and sometimes many days, she
continues to draw around her silhouette with charcoal, dry pigment and other drawing tools.
Passersby are invited to enter and inhabit the space of the drawing together with the artist. They are welcome to lay on the ground and draw around their own bodies the way the artist does,
leaving an imprint or trace of their own presence in the space of drawing. During the project the artist remains silent and others are also required to withdraw from speaking. The
participants/passersby can enter and leave the space of canvas at any time.
This outdoor drawing is prone to the effects of the natural environment such as light, rain and wind. Weiss mounts her video cameras near the scene of the action, which record the drawing space
from an elevated viewpoint. The camera acts as an extension of her eye, allowing the artist to be both inside the work and at the same time to document it from a distance. Later this footage
becomes material from which the artist creates a new film and sound composition.
During approximately six days of the ephemeral outdoor installation inside the 12-century castle in Trancoso, the artist covered a section of the outdoor terrain, with large-scale sheets of
white cotton. Prior to that, local farmers cut the grass using the sickles. With the assistance of a group of women who live in the area, the artist sew the cotton sheets together to form
a canvas. Later this canvas was inhabited by the artist and others who drew around their bodies. Weiss filmed the act of cutting the grass, sewing the cotton, and drawing with a camera
suspended from the nearby tower. The music is composed based on the sounds of the drawing act, the wind, and the voices of the Trancoso's inhabitants. "Swiatlo dnia" in Polish means daylight.
