ALMYRA WEIGEL
Lithuania, Germany
1964
METAMORPHOSIS OF MY WORK or HOW SPAGHETTI TURNED INTO CABLE. 2010-2011. Installation
In the beginning was the wish, my wish to create filigree structures. These structures should be fragile, flexible and graceful. Spaghetti seemed to me to be an outstanding material to be transformed into such delicate structures.
In the end they were too delicate indeed and therefore in the tale of the formation of my works those spaghetti structures cannot be presented anymore as a real work of art; now they only appear as a precious reminiscence of that distant beginning.
But at that time, in 1999, there existed, for a short period only, an installation of filigree structures made of spaghetti and its name was „Nekabink makaronų / Don’t hang up the noodle !” what colloquially means “Don’t lie !”.
I saw that it was good and thus this work became a prototype, a starting point and inspiration to my further engagement in filigree objects and in the various materials which enabled me to create such fragile structures.
Concerning the material which I used for my creation, however, the first step of the metamorphosis came completely unexpectedly. Without any respect for my artistic efforts, but with a big interest in its nutritional value some rats ate up the spaghetti objects. So I had to strike a new path to make my ideas of translucency and sleaziness come true.
I simply had to find a material which had the same potential for forming and the same attractiveness but was not as mouth-watering as cooked spaghetti. Finally it was hot glue, which permitted me to continue realising my ideas and even to develop them further. That material provided me with techniques and options I didn’t have before. And this made possible new forms of expression which the spaghetti never had offered.
The metamorphosis of the material, caused by some small hungry animals, became a metamorphosis of ideas. And in the infinite space of ideas inspirations just waited to be materialised.
So I formed new and innovative filigree structures according to the human body, and I initiated new projects according to certain topics and the most important one I called “Aprons”. I spent a long period on that project and I made a lot of aprons and all of them were different. I created the aprons in the image of real women and men and in the ever-changing image of women and men I created the aprons and, therefore, they increased in number all the time. And I gave names to all the aprons until this project came to its end. Although the image of women and men will continue changing all the days of the existence of mankind that project had to come to an end because I had to rest from all the work of creating and reflecting on this topic.
But from the everlasting unrest immediately new ideas emerged, grew bigger and crystallised to inspirations which gave birth to new efforts. This had to happen because the metamorphosis never ends, neither the social and technological one nor the individual and artistic one.
The cabling of the world and of human mind inexorably proceeds and creates that omnipresent structure of worldwide communication that never sleeps and that is completely pervading human life style. The structure is strong, irremovable and mighty and it plays the most vital and decisive role in human life. Continuously it donates breath-taking instruments which help a human race to discover its unknown wishes. This project will never come to an end.
Almyra Weigel participated also participated in callaborative biennial’s program PLAY.
