#9 Dekka Raymakers "We are not in the world"



When I come across Dekkas work I often feel that there is a blend of influences combined with his own distinct direction of self introspection. I often see what I think is inspiration from the Kinetic art movement of the 1950's and Dada. I sometimes am reminded of the work of Jean Tinguely, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy and Alexander Calder (bottom video) and their mobiles. While Calder made automatic abstract art creation machines and self-destructing machines, Dekkas fine constructions remind me more of the form rather than the function. They seem to be elaborate time machines or other unknown constructs with mysterious purposes.
On the other side is what I believe to be Dekkas fascination and obsession with his own past. The elements in his life that shaped him, both good and bad. Many of us naturally look outwards at others and form opinions, but I think Dekka often creates introspective environments based off his own psyche. I believe he looks at himself with interest the same way we observe others.
what I like about this type of build is that it really doesn't matter if what I say above is correct or not. What it allows for is to have the viewer poke and prod about, actively interpreting what they believe to be the meaning of the work. It doesn't matter if our insights are correct, what matters is that they were able to interact creatively. A movie tells us a story. To make sure we don't get it wrong it also gives us images to support the words. A book tells the story, but we use much of our own creativity to put faces to characters or voices to them. We imagine the environments that are described. We have lots of creative freedom in a book. In SL we can give words and let people explore in whatever direction they wish to go. With Dekka he gives us images rather than words and we create the story. We shuffle through the drawers and look under the bed and use our own creativity to devise a narrative.

#9 from 2008 Spiral Walcher's "Tunnel of Light"

#9 from 2009 Grace McDunnough's "Mummersion"

The build has been graciously hosted by Rose Borchovski below....
Slurl .... http://slurl.com/secondlife//100/113/21


Comments

iono Allen said…
Brilliant idea to use Tom Wait's voice and this particular text for Dekka's installation. Your machinima, Bryn, let us feel all the mysteries behind what we see. I love that !
Anonymous said…
It looks like the link to the installation is broken (the region name is missing).
Semaj said…
my dark ignorance is fertile ground to plant my curiosity… heard an interview this weekend with the now 90 year old voice/word jazz artist Ken Nordine who inspired Waits. Waits had this to say about Nordine:

“Ken Nordine is the real angel sitting on the wire in the tangled matrix of cobwebs that holds the whole attic together… he’s the lite in the icebox, he’s the blacksmith on the anvil in your ear.”

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