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In the summer 2019 in the Italian Alps, at an altitude of 2006 meters, climbers and hikers can stumble upon a panoramic platform made by the artists collective VOLNA within the framework of the land-art biennial SMACH.
The installation “Vague” is an observation point of some kind. Visitors look through plates of glass, which are constantly changing in their opacity, and they can try to piece together the scattered parts of a panoramic view of the mountains in the Fanes-Sennes-Prags Nature Park. This deconstruction of the typical observations points leads towards the theme of Heimat (homeland), set by the organizers of the biennial in the Dolomites.
Heimat is something elusive, like the memories of the places one came from when looked back upon as different person. It never can be represented as a whole, but rather is a combination of different and sometimes independent parts of memories that together create a shimmering and blurry picture. When viewed from a distance, it keeps its outline, but you never know if this amalgamation of different components is objectively true or not.
VOLNA: “The installation attempts to catch that feeling of fragmented and unstable images that usually only exist in our imagination — as when you try to catch a memory in its entirety and bing it into focus, but can’t. Some images are familiar and emotionally important to us, but at the same time being unclear. When we remember faraway feelings or places and things that are important to us, it mostly brings flashes of images and hazy pictures. You can keep trying forever, but no matter how hard you look there is some blurriness next to the clear parts. Sometimes it’s at the edge, and sometimes right in the heart of it. This elusive feeling colors the panorama with subjectivity and transforms matter into an unclear and faraway idea.”
This idea is expressed through the use of PDLC technology, which allows glass plates to change their transparency when the electrical voltage is applied. In order for the installation to work in the stand-alone mode in the nature park, the solar power system was used. The mode of operation allows the installation to save energy at night, so that every day during the three summer months it switches on automatically at 8 am.
The installation “Vague” is the first work of the VOLNA artists team, carried out in the open air and completely independent of power sources, as well as the first work that is created for viewing in the daytime.
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