Illusion of the First Time

Haluk Akakçe

27 July 2002

3-channel video installation 6’ 29’’, colour, sound Sound comp osed by : Dan Donavan in collaboration with the artist

3-channel video installation 6’ 29’’, colour, sound Sound comp osed by : Dan Donavan in collaboration with the artist Photo: Courtesy of The Approach, London

Illusion of the First Time features three large projected abstract imageries that merge into a single mural-size frame, cycling through three “compositions” in a symphony of form and shadow, stillness and movement, organic and digital.

The first silent composition shows graphic black lines, rushing past one another in hectic motion. The second shows shadowy, slow-moving organic shapes that drift gently down the surface accompanied by an enigmatic score (composed by Dan Donavan in collaboration with the artist). The third section consists of rich watery colour techno-organic objects, spinning and unfolding slowly. Articulated in three dimensions against the flat stain of the background, the objects cluster at the top as if waiting to bloom beyond the surface’s edge. Illusion of the First Time suggests rather than depicts an organic evolution featuring an Edenic cyber-garden. The three successive compositions evolve in a dynamic continuum of form and highlight the increasingly indistinct border between the artificial and the real essence of nature.