Touch
2009
Plaster (cast), cloth, watercolour
Installed at: The Wardrobe, Fitzroy (skylabcreative.wordpress.com)
Theme allocated: ‘Again’.
Artwork + text by Nick Dorrer
The reference is to a fingerprint but also to the constant sense of touch we experience. Gravity ensures that our body is always in touch with something, unless we’re jumping. This sensation is ever present, it goes unnoticed. The notion of touch entails the idea that our surroundings are an intrinsic part of our sense of being. Touch is an impression that makes our world intrinsic to us.
The artwork is fragile. It is an impression of an original form. Its coming into existence involves a repetition (through the casting process) which produces a negative form, an absence. Elements repeat, but in a subtly different form in another place.
Repetition and ritual provide the basis and frameworks of our lives. Many actions are repetitions of long established patterns that enable us to think of other matters. This draws our attention away from the repetition; it makes it bearable and pleasurable and ensures that what might seem ‘the same’ is not perceived as such. We often learn through practice, of which repetition is an important part. The illusion of sameness allows us to focus on just those elements that share sufficient sameness, to the exclusion of many complexities.
The idea of a perfect repetition is false. If two ‘identical’ events happen simultaneously, they must occur in different places. If ‘identical’ events happen at the same place, they must occur at different times. The idea of the ‘same place’ is as illusive as is the ‘same time’ at a different place. The idea of doing something 'again’ reminds me of the comforting familiarity we enjoy when we develop, or engage in habits, rituals or customs.
