fungal architecture
Recovery
Aran gallery ,august 2021 ,curated by Mahoor Toosi Tabibi
History is based on forgetfulness, not memory. Who knows what books Ibn ibn AlNadim forgot to compile in the “Alfehrest”? Or which events did a small group of Athenians ignored to portray Greece in the fifth century BC? What is the cause: is it because of omissions- whether on purpose or lost documents, is it just a matter of unavailability of resources? Facts open up when the narrator or historian comes to them. He decides what to forget and which subjects to talk about. He is the one who builds something on the framework of forgetfulness and validates it by interpretation. Forgetting is not neglect and carelessness, but a mechanism for retrieval, reconstruction and recovery; rising from ashes and healing and resilience. Forgetfulness is an integral part of History.
Remembering is suffering, and only “Funes”* remembers everything with no omissions: every day, every hour, every minute. For him, the memory is not a haven, it is a source of constant suffering. The recovery process does not work like “Funes’s” memory. Something is always forgotten so that something else is remembered, moreover, in the process of remembering, the information is not always complete, sometimes part of it is returned or distorted or changed, as in the process of recovering a computer hard drive or what happens in the recovery room of a hospital where there is hope for healing and recovery. Even if we assume that what is loaded on long-term memory is never erased, the issue of data access is presented to us, with obstacles, problems, and distortions that make full recovery virtually impossible. The process of retrieval observes a kind of view of history that does not believe in the separation of mind and object, a view that does not see facts as sensory perceptions or outside the viewer’s consciousness.
Recycling, contrary to what is perceived is not able to return the surplus material to the original cycle, but introduces it to a new cycle that, once transformed, becomes difficult and impossible to recognize from its point of origin and reference. In the process of moving objects, memory is transformed, meaning is changed, and the cycle is changed. The object becomes a mortal patient, if he recovers and regenerates, although he has not lost his memory at all, he will no longer be like before. That is why in this context, recycling is recovery and healing. History can be understood by looking at recycled objects and ideas. By contemplating them, a road map leading to forgetfulness can be drawn. Recoveries evoke forgetfulness before they speak of memory, because they heal and rebuild, but they need a chance to heal, a time to accept what has happened and hope for the future. Just as laid stones, graves and memorials are built not for remembrance but for reconciliation, to heal suffering and pain. In a monument, what is recalled is through abstraction and metaphor, and what has happened dissolves in to the metaphor, as in the Berlin Memorial for Holocaust, a selection of reminders and what is to be forgotten. Remembering what is a source of pride and forgetting what is a source of shame, and finally in conflict with a crowded city – on the move and alive-, shame is forgotten and the memorial is only healing and relieves the conscience to allow for a city to be rebuilt.
What is gathered in this exhibition are sub-narratives that are identified by the narrator as the point of reference and source of its validation. The memory of objects has changed so much that by looking at them point of origin cannot be fully recognized, what seems obvious is questioned by the shifting of the point of view, and what is considered convincing is viewed with skepticism. These recycled works are born out of accidents and incident and through act of recovery and by overcoming the turmoil, are reborn. Facing the question of “Remember R” these works are reminder of:
My focus in curatorial projects is on memory and history, which is interpreted according to the archive. But this is the main concern: What should I remember? How do I remember? By clinging to the lost past and drowning in nostalgia? Or are we to be accused of not having a historical memory?
Mahoor Toosi
*Funes the Memorious is a fantasy short story by Argentinian writer Jorge Luis Borges (199-1986)
“Mogharnas” is an entrance to the architecture which acts as a corridor to connect inside to outside. natural elements and geometric forms like palm branches were used to bring the soul of nature into the architecture and also a transitional quality between lranian “Bagh” and the building ,it seems it was a medium to bring the Iranian “Bagh” into their life. In these art pieces ,Mushrooms is used in a biological transformation process to show the historic change of Iranian culture ,the change of time in forms was re-modeled by growth of Mycelium .
Mycelium as has the ability to think via growth in its substrate and this quality gives it the ability to sense the space via its own sensors.it transforms the material and changes the quality of matter. Destruction and re construction via fungal micro organisms gives a transitional quality to artwork which is found in nature in other forms like plants, fossils, moss, lichen or even river stone beds.
