MEM-NON | The Butterfly Process

Year: 2014
Technique: digital video

The video examines the development of an installation in a how-it’s-made manner, questioning if the production process of an artwork can have in itself a conceptual value. The displayed work, entitled “MEM-NON | The Great Mormon Temple”, is an interactive installation, structured as a visual soundscape, that invites the visitors to a multilayered sensorial experience (find out more on mem-non.com)

The documented production stages depict the manufacturers as they were each asked to create a specific part of MEM-NON by implementing a new product line, without acknowledging its purpose.

The production was divided into 6 stages, each for a different supplier:
- the pillows made of glued polyurethane foam
- the zippers, modified in order to allow the pillows to be connected in any direction
- the pillowcases made of printed satin in 700 chromatic combinations
- the recording software for the interactive side of the installation
- the sound buttons customized to store the musical compositions
- the assemblage of MEM-NON for the SenzArt show in the National Museum of Contemporary Art of Bucharest

The production takes place simultaneously in different workshops, and gradually all the parts have to be composed in order to give shape to the installation. Therefore the video follows in a rhythmical progression the non-chronological development of MEM-NON. It centers on the production processes that could give the video an autonomous conceptual value.