(Typo)graphics  > ICH BIN DER OZEAN (I'M THE OCEAN)

I’M THE OCEAN (ICH BIN DER OZEAN)
In summer Daniela Egger invited me to realize a small work in the context of ‘Dementia in Art’. For this she curated three showcases in a pedestrian underpass in Feldkirch.
‘Dementia in Art’ is a project of the ‘Aktion Demenz Vorarlberg’. It focuses on the vision that people with dementia in Vorarlberg can participate unhindered in public and social life.
My neighboring artists in the neighboring showcases are Kirsten Helfrich with her work ‘Love‘ (Liebe) and Bianca Lugmayr with ‘White Paper‘ (Weißes Papier). It was my pleasure to accept the invitation.
As I was thinking about it, the song I’M THE OCEAN by Neil Young from the album MIRROR BALL came to mind:

I’M THE OCEAN

I’m an accident
I was driving way too fast
Couldn’t stop though
So I let the moment last
I’m for rollin
I’m for tossin’ in my sleep
It’s not guilt though
It’s not the company I keep

People my age
They don’t do the things I do
They go somehwere
While I run away with you
I got my friends
And I got my children too
I got her love
She’s got my love too

I can’t hear you
But I feel the things you say
I can’t see you
But I see what’s in my way
Now I’m floatin
Cause I’m not tied to the ground
Words I’ve spoken
Seem to leave a hollow sound

On the long plain
See the rider in the night
See the chieftain
See the braves in cool moonlight
Who will love them
When they take another life
Who will hold them
When they tremble for the knife

Voicemail numbers
On an old computer screen
Rows of lovers
Parked forever in a dream
Screaming sirens
Echoing across the bay
To the old boats
From the city far away

Homeless heroes
Walk the streets of their hometown
Rows of zeros
On a field that’s turning brown
They play baseball
They play football under lights
They play card games
And we watch them every night

Need distraction
Need romance and candlelight
Need random violence
Need entertainment tonight
Need the evidence
Want the testimony of
Expert witnesses
On the brutal crimes of love

I was too tired
To see the news when I got home
Pulled the curtain
Fell into bed alone
Started dreaming
Saw the rider once again
In the doorway
Where she stood and watched for him
Watched for him

I’m not present
I’m a drug that makes you dream
I’m an aerostar
I’m a cutlass supreme
In the wrong lane
Trying to turn against the flow
I’m the ocean
I’m the giant undertow

I’m the ocean
I’m the ocean
I’m the giant undertow
I’m the ocean
I’m the giant undertow
I’m the ocean
I’m the ocean
I’m the ocean
I’m the ocean
I’m the ocean
I’m the ocean

..everything else came almost by itself. I ordered a disco ball with a diameter of 40 cm and a small rotating motor, pasted about 40% of the square mirrors with 12 sets of the alphabet, hung it at the eye level of a 182 cm tall person (me and Neil Young are that tall) and illuminated the slowly rotating ball with a bright, small spot from the right below the corner of the showcase.