R O B B E R T O & M I L E N A A T Z O R I
The year 2020 was certainly the year that highlighted that despite ethnic, social and political differences, all humans are similar in the face of fear.
Like all large-scale traumatic events, the one we are experiencing brings with it changes.
If before our interest and our research was focused on memory and symbolism, after March 2020 it was natural to shift our attention towards colors, imagination and the search for a freer production.
The project Hypnagogie, was born precisely from the need to invent a world "other", a multi-sensory installation that can bring the viewer in a garden of Eden, inhabited by imaginary beings who coexist and live together without hierarchy.
Through touch, smell, sight and hearing, the exhibition will stimulate the visitor's perceptions in a complete way.
The hypnagogic state is a special state of consciousness, between that of awakening and that of sleep that takes place during the first phase of sleep: falling asleep.
Etymologically, the prefix hypn (or) comes from the Greek hupnos meaning sleep, and the suffix agogy comes from the Greek agôgos (agôgée) and translates the idea of carrying, which leads to and by extension to the beginning. Hypnagogy therefore literally means "starting to sleep".
It is at this stage that hallucinations occur: these visual or auditory hallucinations happen at the moment of falling asleep shortly before the loss of consciousness, even when the subject still has access to his five senses. These experiences are in some cases described as particularly disturbing by the people who experience them because they are sometimes difficult to distinguish from reality.
A hallucination is a false perception of a sensory stimulus (auditory, visual, fierce, tactile, or olfactory) that does not exist and which may appear when the brain is unable to correctly understand and interpret the information coming from the external environment.
The project itself consists of a total immersion in a world populated by anthropomorphic figures created with fabrics, colors, and embroidery.
The installation that forms the presentation of the project aims to emphasize the distance of knowledge, through lights, sounds, and scents tailored to create observational synesthesia reminiscent of hallucinations, altered state of perception, hypnagogical state.
The multisensorial installation consists of a room in which several anthropomorphic, polymorphic, and colored figures coexist in the space. This space is illuminated by LEDs, which make it possible to switch the light between white, red, and blue.
Project description
SIGHT
The set consists of figures and shapes made entirely with upholstered and watercolor-like fabrics, some decorated with organic embroidery or juxtaposed with glass shapes.
The installation includes several anthropomorphic figures, the dimensions of which vary from 150 cm to 230 cm, each with different characteristics and colors, with embroidered pieces taking on natural shapes. Some of these sculptures will be self-supporting, others attached to the wall, others to the floor, and yet others to the ceiling, in order to build up a systemic complexity by occupying the space.
The main figures, anthropomorphic shapes, will be presented in different positions to create a dynamic space and create visual depth with precision.
In addition to the anthropomorphic figures, there will be many organic shapes in fabric and some geometric shapes in glass, the first in elastic quilted acrylic fabric and the other is 3 mm thick transparent float glass.
The lighting will consist of 8 Pars 18 x 12 W RGBW LED's, adjusted to slowly fluctuate between the shades of white, which go through blue to pink and vice versa.
OLFACT
Perfume is applied to the installation in order to obtain a deep perception, this fragrance will spread through some of the sculptures in the space.
The perfume will be specially created with three essential oils diluted in almond oil. The scent created will be a light fragrance, with fresh tones and floral notes, and will be hidden in some of the sculptures that are impregnated by the essence and spread evenly throughout the space.
HEARINGS
The audio provided for the installation must have a rhythmic cadence that is present both in nature and in the industrial world, a repetitive and obscure mechanism that oscillates between a religious sound and a call to love crickets.
Like the smell, the sound will be hidden in the forms of the fabric and redistributed through the use of four small loudspeakers placed in the four corners of the space. Each speaker will be independent, both in terms of power and signal, through the use of memory cards.
TOUCH
The floor of the room is covered with foam slabs with the dimensions 200x150 and a thickness of 6 cm.
The foam slabs are covered with colored fabric and the foam shapes are cut to form a geometric pattern on the floor. In order to enhance the perception of the space, the visitor can walk on them through the tactile perception created by the contact between the feet and the flexible surface.
