Remarks regarding the use of a self-avoiding edge-covering curve in artworks and installations related to Liza ’N Eliaz by SEXES in Brussels and Antwerp 2018.
“If we could have explained it all in a text we would not have made the artwork!” (Marco Buetikofer)
When invited by Encore to contribute to two exhibitions on Liza ’N Eliaz we started researching the particular situation this transgender speedcore producer found herself in, in the 90’s. Rave culture was still in its early years and the gabber scene had just been born. Looking at it from today we realise a still growing interest and industry of raves and festivals, sub- and retro trends that continue to draw from early pioneers like Liza. We hence asked the question “Is there a social function to rave- and club culture?”. Our speculative answer is that if there is any function it might be related to the vague term “spirituality” - a concept that floats quite freely on the pond of meaning that’s been oozing out of the declining organised religions since a few centuries.
While neither the rave- nor club scene has ever really claimed to form a new church (although there are multiple more or less ironic references, most prominent probably Berghain’s moniker “church”), many have claimed to have had profoundly spiritual experiences at parties. Partly this is propelled by the extraordinariness of these event (everything is designed to not be an everyday encounter) and the strong sense of (temporary) community but also by the widespread use of drugs in the scene.
This drug use is also connecting this new form of spirituality to more traditional ones from around the globe, most noteworthy all the shamanic traditions who always have deployed the use of trance inducing substances or actions (e.g. long dancing, repetitive chanting, shaking or whirling). Most of these cultures have produced ornamental artefacts. One example which made it’s way deep into rave-culture, especially into the psytrance scene, are the patterns created by the Shipibo-Conibo people of the Peruvian Amazon. Most of their patterns are generated by overlaying two so called “space-filling curves” these can be described as simple mathematical functions (as done first by Benoît Mandelbrot in his book The Fractal Geometry of Nature). According to Christian Rätsch (in Enzyklopädie der psychoaktiven Pflanzen) the Shipibo-Conibo people use these patterns as a notation system for music perceived on Ayahuasca induced journeys.
It was this constellation that led us to researching the use of space-filling lines in modern technology (after all it were techno-culture related exhibitions we were invited to contribute to). Since the so called Hilbert-curve is now used a lot in dithering algorithms for image conversions we stumbled across a derivate which cuts through the space in such a manner that its surroundings in part resemble swastikas.
We chose to incorporate fragments of this line in a multi-layered array of patterns for all the connections given above plus the two obvious ones: The swastika is a deeply spiritual sign in many parts of the east and an obnoxious fascist sign in western culture, thus bringing together two rivalling influences on the early techno scene in general and the gabber scene in particular.
However this was just just how i perceived the coming about of one among many aspects that in the end formed the artworks exhibited in Waldburger Wouters (Brussels) and ISITDARK? (Antwerp), it is entirely possible that my friends from SEXES have different reasons to why that curve fit the works. I wanted to offer my take on this as the pattern in question produced some controversy in the exhibitions. Thanks for reading - feedback is as always very welcome!
DARKITIS! at Waldburger Wouters (Brussels) is on show till October 27, 2018
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