Instant pages

Instant pages
1999
Wood, synthetic rope, paper, instant coffee
1200x350x200cm

There are more than 400 prints that were used in the installation “Instant pages”.
All of them were manufactured during work time at a factory department that produced Instant coffee.
During my daily shift I used to dip papers sheets in the watery coffee pigment and placed them between the ovens and washing machines.
Moisture, steam, heat and the placing on various surfaces originated the random structures and shades on the paper. I did not intervene the process- just created the circumstances of becoming. The duration of the placing varied between hours and weeks. It was all big experiment and it has this random element that made it especially interesting for me like a farmer bringing home its harvest.
A random process is a repeating process whose outcomes follow no deterministic pattern and is therefore thought to be unusable for predictable and desired results.
Now in art we have a long tradition using this unpredictability’s in various forms. I am just one in a long line of artists getting hooked on this methods. No, I do not have a problem with the idea that randomness exists; quiet to the contrary.
I see those prints as a documentation of that period in which they have been created.
I choose for the accordion like image of a compressing or expanding corridor to show the ongoing idea of this experiment. The length of the corridor depended on the amount of prints but could be further expanded.