Index

While exploring historical sites and neighborhoods in Rome in 2010 I found, amid rubbish, old library index cards which are approximately hundred years old. The cards deal mostly with books on the Italian Risorgimento of the 19th century, an ideological and literary movement to unite a nation which was dominated by several states.

The postcard-sized (15 x 10 cm) cards, executed in beautiful calligraphy on various kinds of paper, became a starting point for Index, an installation which comments the fragmentary, contextualizing and additive nature of history, and, narratives in general. I used ink and aquarelle color to make marks and images on the cards, the end result resembling the arbitrary images of a Rorschach-test in which one can recognize figures by free association.

My aim is to utilize histories to illuminate the present – how do we react to historical facts; how does one approach historical sites as a tourist; how are the histories visible in the present.

By adding more layers on the index cards I seek to emphasize the imaginative and interpretive aspect of both visual art and scientific research. Both employ fragments of multi-layered information from which a greater picture evolves.