SAND PIECE
2023
screen printed image with sand, time-triggered mechanism
Sand Piece is an ephemeral photograph. It is a fragile image prone to change. A fluid object with a beginning and an end. Due to its embedded slow tilting mechanism, the screen-printed image is in constant change. Eventually, it pours down completely, and disappears.
The photograph is screen printed with fine sand on a black surface, and is fixed only by gravity and friction. The installation has a slow unfolding momentum. The black board, which holds the image, is connected to a mechanism, which slowly tilts the board towards a steeper angle.
Addressing the idea on how time gets divided into a before and an after, Dolinšek enquires into questions on uncertainty, loss and change. The specific moment, when gravity starts to break the photograph into dust — the turning point in the life of the image — happens unpredictably.
Not two encounters with Sand Piece are the same. Since the image made of sand is so fragile, it has to be done on site, and it is also impossible to entirely reproduce. This installation is site- and time-specific. Since the mechanism is working only during the opening times of the gallery, the artwork became an autonomous living object for the time of the exhibition. The image is therefore not situated in a moment, but is rather an evolving happening. Its end has always been an open question.
Installation shots are from a group exhibition "Staring Into the Sun Until It Turns Purple", Röda Sten Konsthall, Göteborg (SE). April 29 - May 21 2023.
