Arie Bouman, of het ondraaglijke zijn van het licht
“The multitude of images in our media culture – and the form in which they are presented to us – causes all differentiation of meaning and value to be made solely on personal basis. The individual creates an intentional reality. The beholder can – through control over context and form – change the meaning and value of the images. This causes a total shift in the traditional ideas concerning originality, authenticity, autonomy, beholder and creator.
The media have so strongly shaped our culture – especially its visual side – so much that this imagery has become part of our identity. Not only have the images themselves changed but also how they are made available to us. This is becoming less and less regulated on grounds of ideas or social and cultural identity. The beholder has become the focal point towards which everything gravitates. And so more and more research is done into what we want to see. The image is looking back at its beholder. “We become what we see”. This strange form of democracy creates a new morality for us viewers. Within this media landscape we have to recreate our identity, imposing a self on it. This is why ‘reality’ in the media has become so important. Creating a point of reference through which an identity may be formulated.
Interaction with our environment is the basis of our consciousness, our ability for creation. The autonomous motion that separates us from nature. We come loose from our surrounding where we interact with it and change it. This change then becomes part of our environment and of our own creation. This Renaissance – this double appearance – is the basis of my work. The moment when – through the images – you catch a glimpse of your reflection.”
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