For the project, Unconscious as we cross participants remake second-hand souvenirs that were bought at online marketplaces. The pre-owned souvenirs are material traces of people’s movement and memory.
During workshops, the participants reproduce the objects, which are afterward remade again by another person, and so on. The objects gradually become removed from their original shape and meaning, as if the participants are processing a past while drafting a possible future.
As a display for the reproduced souvenirs, Heidi Voet combines ordinary tables, a shelf, and museum plinths. The placement reflects the ambivalence that the souvenir objects hold. Some material objects might end up in a display case in an archeological museum, while others might be lost and destroyed over time. Just as some memories become treasured, and others are forgotten.
The title of the complete installation at Vital Space is Unconscious as we cross (Endless House), a reference to an architectural model from the 1950s designed by Friedrick Kiesler. The concept for the Endless House expressed a desire for a connected, continuous space, similar to ‘culture’ and its material culture as a boundless, endless exchange and continuum.
