Once I was dancing in the dark and what was left is a drawing

Project description

To escape the digital sensory overload of modern day life’s digital behaviour, artist and composer Shayu has been keeping a visual diary based on analogue drawings for over twelve years. For the work of art «Once I was dancing in the dark and what was left is a drawing» the visual diary has now been translated into the digital realm by video artist Joerg Hurschler and is accompanied by an auditive composition by Shayu.

The drawings suggest a reference to the Écriture automatique process, in which images and feelings are reproduced purely and without the intervention of the critical self. The origin of the mentioned method goes back to experimental trials in 19^th century psychology. As part of these experiments, patients half asleep or under «hypnosis» wrote texts that reflected the unconscious. This enabled psychologists to create psychograms and to elicit personality splits of patients.

The keeping of a visual diary consisting of over 1’000 of drawings, allows Shayu to process daily impressions and store them in mechanical memory. The artist associates places that have shaped her, people she met, visual and auditory stimuli as well as the appurtenant feelings.

The result is shown as a 2.1 installation in the Aktionshalle of Rote Fabrik in Zurich. To launch the release, Shayu has invited friends from Switzerland and England to perform their own musical interpretation of the installation.

Credits: 

Music composition, Shayu
Original drawings, Lea Meier
Videoartist, Joerg Hurschler
Commissioned, Verein Vakuum
Graphic Design, Jahn Koutrios
Mixing & Mastering, David Webb
Typeface, Plasmaa Pro
Funded by Fachstelle Kultur Kanton Zurich&
Cassinelli Vogel Stiftung
Big up dat shop on Kingsland road
I got this magical pen from x years ago
Special thx to Rote Fabrik
buy track via via bandcamp