SEMIOPHORES

Objects turn into semiophores when they are removed from their original context of use and become part of a museal collection. Those seemingly inanimate artifacts are classified following western parameters of object evaluation and are overwritten with a new history. The more an object is charged with meaning – through exploration, measurement and evaluation – the greater its value.
Thus, following philosopher Krzysztof Pomian, the artifacts are becoming semiophores, referenced objects, carriers of meaning, which are maintaining the communication between the invisible, where they are coming from, and the visible, where they are exposed to meaning. They turn into mediators of the faraway, the foreign or the past which can become visible through the objects.
The exhibition “Semiophores” circles around an imaginary object, in visualizing processes of value attribution to objects in context of their institutional presentation. A rope designed to keep back visitors whips through the space, frozen in an instantly delicate balance; a tromp l´oil of an empty showcase, composed of shadow and light reflections, which unfolds itself at a certain point of view; the projection of hands with white gloves, which are gently exploring invisible artifacts, a series of metal stands extending threateningly into the empty space. An installation where the exhibits develope an animistic life of their own and abandon their original function, while the actual object, where every work is circeling around, stays invisible.