Part of What

Workshop
KAOS / Psycho-Social Center Saint Alexius Brussels
2017/18 

Is the Self an Object?

For the inhabitants and staff members of this psychosocial centrum Galeazzi provided a series of workshops for the deconstruction of narratives that are created between Objects and the Self. With the help of some random objects and a photo camera, Galeazzi invited the participants into a playful sphere to experiment with their own Selves.

The relations between objects, humans, and spaces are the basic ingredients for our emotional life. The experience of this interplay tells us the stories upon which we apply our perspective onto the world. 

Sometimes these stories fit our worldview; sometimes, they don’t. Sometimes the objects in front of our eyes do not want to create the images we expect from them, and sometimes their appearance doesn’t make sense to us. The most logical narratives can become absurd, as soon as a thing even slightly changes its place and relates to something else, and a random situation may become meaningful when put in another context.

For ‘Part of What’ snapshot photographs, selfies, and still-lives of that playful sphere  were selected to create a second layer of that performative setup. Projected onto the wall, the images invited the participants and audience to continue the game in front and on top of their own images – to experience a mise-en-abyme of their Self.