Mizpah - Enigmas of the Existence and Non-Existence : an exploration through art

Mizpah is an interactive installation, and it was exhibited first time at the degree exibition Memetrancism, Jakobstad 2023.

The physical work consists of two main parts: a corridor with transparent white curtains - leading to a white-painted, private room. Inside of this mistily lighted room, were placed a bone-black pigment-painted coffin, an old Bakelite telephone and a black chair to sit on.

The telephone cord was plugged directly into the coffin, and the telephone line was open. If you spoke into the phone, you experienced a quiet, abstract, whisper-like answer from the coffin back to the phone.

Mizpah was the degree thesis work of The Bachelor of Culture and Arts, and was also realized as a written thesis "Mizpah - Enigmas of existence and non-existence : exploration through art".

Abstract

Do you still wish to see the deceased, or do we close the lid before last goodbye?

The physical remains of the human soul received their last observers, the shell that had preserved consciousness exhaled its emptiness. The lid of the coffin sealed the departure of our last journey on earth.

In my final work, Mizpah - Enigmas of the Existence and Non-Existence : an exploration through art, I immersed myself in an examination of my own perception of death, existence and non-existence, and the implications of the metaphors, reflections and thematics created by these concepts in my own artistic work.

How the already non-existing, continues to exist throughout an artist's life - contributing and constantly shaping the artist's understanding and worldview - while the void created by absence echoes with questions that, despite searching, have no ready answers.

Mizpah - Enigmas of the Existence and Non-Existence : an exploration through art, provides a window into the longing and yearning created by the void, opening up the involvement of loss and the mourning process through my creations of art.

Veera Rislachius
Mizpah - Enigmas of existence and non-existence : exploration through art
Degree Thesis, Bachelor of Culture and Arts, Fine Arts
2023