Mapping
Territories
2020

Under the vast exposure of the Universe, we are able to count years and distances, to measure and travel at nearly the speed of light, as during our evolution we specialized more and more in understanding what is laying above us. Many preoccupations concerning the outer space or the sky were linked at first to religious beliefs, while science and philosophy have developed mostly during the last centuries, as tools for extending our comprehension for our lives into this constantly changing environment. Their theories managed to de-mystify a lot of our beliefs, and instead, proved us bit by bit how tiny and fragile we are, as we continuously extended our consciousness into finding meanings for our existence. Are we isolated and alone in this entire world, or our voice echoes somewhere else where someone hears? Will we ever get to our desired answers, or are we doomed to re-enact the universes’ cycles?

Developed as an exercise for re-enacting and interpreting the already known universes patterns, or the visible horizon explored as a closed field, the works from the show are standing for transforming the distance between us and the outer space into a specific language, where in this given case abstraction or the chosen color palettes have a very specific and powerful substance, underlying our position in this infinite journey of discovering the world.

In this particular situation, abstraction is more of a tool which underlines how aware we actually are of our size and matter, stimulating in the same time the best that man always knew better to do: to reproduce nature (in this case, the unknown). Not seen as a manifesto for reproducing nature, but more as contemplation developed under the idea of trying to map the territories between us and our eyes that experience the world, and the outside, the intangible. While we are gazing at the wholeness of the world, in its supermassive `backstage`, during a short glance, many things may change - as entire other worlds are colliding without us even knowing. Humanity might have its own lifetime, and while massive ice sheets are melting, we still cannot comprehend geological time.

The dynamic between the two artists shifts between two kinds of approaches, as Mihaela Hudrea is more interested in different notions about how we perceive our surrounding world - in its widest sense - in dialogue with the media and the aesthetics of the digital age. Along with her works, she inquires her own personal interests that connect to universal issues, from scientific questions to environmental concerns, being intrigued on how the objectiveness of science can shape or re-shape the rights and wrongs that initially take place in our perception. Nora Teplan however, at the same time, is focused more on the state of inconsistency of the perceivable reality, aiming to suggest a path for contemplation where philosophical concerns upon the human condition are reflected, as the eternal recurrence of the same - the possibility that all events in one’s life will happen again and again, infinitely - is one of her main points from where she departs building the entire series of paintings, along with the presented video from the show.

These two directions converge into reflecting upon our condition of not knowing exactly what happens around us - of being caught in reflecting and experiencing only what we know, and in many cases, of experiencing the consequences of our actions as humans, right between being driven to look after a better world outside this one, or the burden to live in this already emptied one. Correlated with the latest turn of events we were collectively exposed to, in its substance, the show could be read as a phase of a moment we are finding ourselves in the tumultuous life of the Universe.