condensation of substances / mount etna (2015)
video, 1,59'. found footage, text, and edit: Maru Mushtrieva
This work was developing from several ends: but it started from a short poem, that led me to research on the subject. I looked into connections between natural condensation processes and condensation symbols in psychology and to my surprise discovered a geographical location, that embodies them both.
Earth's water was likely produced by condensation of volcanic water vapor early in Earth’s history. Volcanic activity first took place at Mount Etna about 500,000 years ago, with eruptions occurring beneath the sea off the ancient coastline of Sicily.
Mount Etna is one of the most active volcanoes in the world and is in an almost constant state of activity. The people of the Etna sometimes use the jargon term 'a muntagna,' simply "the mountain" par excellence.
Etna is inscribed in cultural history as being a place of imprisonment for Typhon, the father of many famous monsters of Greek mythology.
The strata exposed in the valley walls provide an important and easily
accessible record of Etna's eruptive history. Structural and seismic
data indicate that the regional deformation in the Etnean area is a
result of the subduction of the African tectonic plate under the Eurasian
plate.
On September 4th, 2007 a spectacular episode of lava fountaining occurred
from the new vent on the east side of the southeast crater, also
producing a plume of ash and scoriae which fell over the east flank of
the volcano. The lava flow traveled about 4.5 km into the uninhabited
Valle del Bove. The fertile volcanic soils support extensive
agriculture, with vineyards and orchards spread across the lower
slopes of the mountain.
Condensation symbols are also a term in psychology and 1) have the tendency to evoke rich and vivid images in an audience; 2) possess the capacity to arouse emotions; as well as 3) supply instant categorizations and evaluations. According to Freud, condensation is a type of repression in which the intensities of individual ideas, memories, and thoughts to the intensity of a single idea or a complex of ideas merge, etc.
Examples of such condensation symbols are the offspring of Typhon - Cerberus, Chimera, Sphinx, Hydra, and Medusa: fantasies of condensed multi-headed heterogeneous animals continued to create the raptures in the social order and to force the development of mythological plots, repeating and changing the history.
This process of condensation is directed to the fulfillment of desire, as well as a certain sense of self-deception in order to facilitate life goals as to avoid discomfort. A camouflage, a reinterpretation, and reconnection of undesirable perceptions or memories; an unconscious release of emotional tension.
Screening @ "LOOP - A video art marathon" 4-21/12 2015 & 6-17/1 2016 in Galleri CC (Malmö, Sweden) and @ Supermarket Art Fair 21-24/04 2016 (Stockholm, Sweden)