ESSAY

‘Neural Architecture’ is a mapping of memory, perception, and the intricate pathways that connect our inner worlds to our external reality. Through a combination of black vinyl blocks, red and white strings, and rocks, the exhibition presents an interpretation of memory as a bridge between past, present, and future. It asks viewers to consider the abstract and transient nature of memory and its influence on identity and experience.

At its core, Neural Architecture visualizes memory as a map, not a conventional map with defined coordinates, clear topography, or measurable units, but as an abstract representation of pathways that lead to unknowable destinations. These maps lack specific questions or answers, resisting functionality and instead embracing philosophical inquiry. They invite viewers to consider the interplay between individual experience and collective understanding, resulting in forms that mutate into the unknowable.

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The Infinite Depths of the Mind

One of the exhibition's central elements is a series of boxed white framed black boxes (60 cm x 60 cm). These boxes contain the boundless, enigmatic depths of the mind. The blackness signifies the infinite and unknowable aspects of memory connections inherited through ancestry and shaped by personal experience. The choice of black emphasizes depth, mystery, and the vast, unseen layers of the psyche that hold the raw material for our lived experiences and constructed realities.

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Strings as Pathways

The strings function as symbolic connectors within this conceptual map of memory. The white threads represent the internal receptors of information, those sensory and emotional connections that allow us to gather, store, and recall memory. Meanwhile, the red threads serve as visual metaphors for the neural architecture of the brain. The red threads symbolize the intricate web of connections that project memory into an internalized perception of reality or externalize it into physical objects and moments. Together, the strings suggest a dynamic, ever-shifting network of pathways where memory is not a static record but a living, fluid process shaped by flux and individualized perception.

 

Rocks as Memory Artifacts

Rocks serve as another component in Neural Architecture, symbolizing the individuality, impermanence, and subjectivity of memory. Each rock, with its unique color, shape, structure, and compound, represents a specific memory. Yet, like memory itself, these rocks are impermanent, subject to processes of decay and change. They are deeply personal artifacts, understandable only to their creator at the moment of their conception. This impermanence reflects the ephemeral nature of memory, which is always in flux, constantly being reshaped by time and perspective.

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Monolithic Black Blocks

In philosophy, the term "architectonic" refers to the systematic organization and interrelation of knowledge, emphasizing the structure and coherence of ideas. Immanuel Kant described human reason as inherently architectonic, highlighting its tendency to organize all knowledge into a unified system. Here the solid block of black vinyl outside the frame suggests an intellectual structure or system of meaning. The block's monolithic simplicity symbolizes the foundational element of such a system, evoking the idea of unity and minimalism as the bedrock of philosophical inquiry. It challenges the viewer to consider the essential building blocks of knowledge and perception while serving as a metaphor for the abstract frameworks that underlie human understanding. The black block’s stark, elemental form thus resonates with Kant’s vision of reason striving for systematic completeness, inviting reflection on the tension between abstraction and meaning in both art and philosophy.

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A Philosophy of Memory

'Neural Architecture' ultimately encourages viewers to question how memory functions as both a personal and collective phenomenon. It rejects the notion of memory as an accurate or fixed record and instead proposes it as a philosophical idea, an ever-changing map of connections that merge the individual and the collective into something unknowable. Memory becomes a pathway, not to a definitive answer, to a deeper understanding of the self and the ways we relate to the world around us.

Through the use of materials and conceptual underpinnings, 'Neural Architecture' bridges art and philosophy, creating a space where memory is not just recalled but reimagined. It challenges us to see the familiar in unfamiliar ways and to embrace the complexities and contradictions of our inner landscapes. In doing so, it transforms memory from a static artifact into a dynamic and mysterious force that shapes our understanding of reality.