Kexin Lin
My Own Apophenia is a series of kinetic objects–ambiguous forms, semi-revealed behind cloudy glass. The objects recreate collections from my childhood. To me, they represent a version of apophenia–a space of connection between unrelated objects, of the limbo between memory and loss.
https://ellielin.com/my-own-apophenia/
Description
This is my first piece resulting from my ongoing research on apophenia, memory, and perception. I recreated some of my secret childhood collections–I used to hide them in cabinets from my family–: jars of mealworms, cans of fruit seeds, and used ballpoint pen refills. They are just low or even no value items, but there is a high level of emotional connection I have to their subject matters. As I grew up, I have learned to streamline my belongings, to pack lighter to move around easier and stress about less. My passions for the material forms of my previous collections faded after a certain point, but I still feel supported emotionally every time I get reminded of that fearless time in my life. I want to tackle the idea of remembrance while leaving it amorphous and open for viewers to bring their own interpretations to their experience.
Carrying an abstract and subtle quality, the kinetic objects suggest worms crawling, fruit seeds dancing and ballpoint pen refills rolling in the cabinet of secrets. This lively moment is interrupted as soon as any human activities around it are detected––as in Toy Story––a playful mystery that allows our imagination to take over. My interest in the idea of apophenia inspired me to create visual cues in order to make dynamic triggers of perception and connections through which memories are activated. My intent, by changing the format of the original objects, is to transfer emotions attached to them, update the memory of a former self, and to trigger new perceptions in a divergent context.
Classes
Thesis Part 2: Production