Event 5: E. JOTEVA - MNEMOAWARI

May 9th

Design Media Arts graduate solo show E. Joteva
Broad Arts, EDA
5:00-- 7:00pm 

Eli Joteva’s show was amazing, I had the opportunity to talk to her and was really impressed by her creativity and thoughts behind her show. I really liked how we could get super close to the structures and really analyze their texture and the sounds they were producing. Also, her ability to incorporate virtual reality, close up pictures, and sound, allowed us to live a full sensory experience and really appreciate what was happening in the room. 

Picture of wildflower cryo sculpture artistically reflected on one of the three walls

Before looking around the room, I decided to ask Eli what her inspiration was behind this project, and she told me it had been her own dream. A while ago, she had a dream about making a ball out of ice and mushrooms, and a few days later, she happened to run across the same type of mushrooms that she had seen in that one dream. This is when she decided to try it out, to explore what would happen if she made these balls that would eventually melt. Eli decided to create three cryo sculptures that would release their entropic potential into virtual and material memory in the course of three days. These sculptures were made out of ice, sand, and different kinds of flora. The first one was made out of mushrooms, the second one was made out of wild flowers, and the third one was simply flowers. She told me that although she didn’t exactly weigh them, they were pretty heavy due to so much material being put together as one piece of mass. Because of this, they were suspended and held by really thick ropes that would hold their weight. Below the sculptures, there were iron pots that were holding the water that dripped while these melted, creating a very relaxing raindrop sound. 

Eli Joteva with the wildflower sculpture

Suspended and held by a thick rope

The three sculptures had very interesting colors and were very aesthetically pleasing to the eye. Also, the whole room just had a very unique vibe of science and technology working together to create beautiful pieces of art. This show reminded me of some of the things we have learned in lecture, especially what we learned about the separation between science and art. Personally, I believed Eli Joteva is one of those artists who bridges the gap between science and humanities. She was inspired by nature and used plants to create her artwork. Also, something that caught my attention about her was that when someone asked her why she wasn’t capturing how the “ice balls” melted by putting cameras in the room, she answered “Art is about letting go, you don’t want to hold on to it, but let it progress and let it happen.” This answer really says a lot about what her intentions are-she is simply inquisitive and is using art and technology to explore her curiosities. 

Left to Right: Eli Joteva & Me 

Now, this show also resembled how nowadays artists have been shifting towards technology to create very intriguing projects. I was really impressed by the way in which Eli went above and beyond and decided to add some tech into her show. What she did is she projected pictures of the three cryo sculptures on the walls around the room, in a very artistic manner. Also,  we could hear the wildflowers sculpture’s sound effect of the water dripping. Finally, the most interesting part of her incorporation of technology was that she had virtual reality of the mushroom sculpture. I was really impressed by her idea and process behind making it happen. She took photographic images of all the different angles of the ball in order to create this illusion of VR that made us feel like we were inside of the sculpture, although it was actually all surface. 

Technology + Science + Art

Mushroom cryo sculpture melting

Overall, this show was really artistic and interesting, but what impressed me the most was Eli Joteva’s attitude towards art. Like I mentioned earlier, she is very curious and is not looking for specific answers. Instead, she lets her mind wander and is determined to create any project that pops into her head. I was surprised by her ability to incorporate such advanced technology and use it creatively. Personally, I believe art made out of nature is very pleasing because it is more realistically and humane, therefore appealing to a bigger audience.  

Wildflower cryo sculpture