Cosmic Theatre Michalovič

The beginning of this artistic event reminds us of a mythical birth: in the beginning there was an Idea and then a sphere was born out of it. To be more precise, three spheres, not just one, were born on the basis of the Idea. Why exactly a sphere? Because this remarkably curved surface has always attracted (and we believe it will continue to attract) people’s interest. And this is because every point of a sphere’s surface is equidistant from its centre. Or because of another fact: that this solid can be divided into two mirror-image halves. To the minds of rational geometricians, the sphere has acted as a challenge to be dealt with. The same solid has driven irrational charlatans into despair, because they have always seen in it something more than just an interesting object. And as for common people, the sphere has fascinated us with its simultaneous combination of incredible simplicity and perfection.
So, in the beginning there was an Idea which – just like any divine or human Idea – has an author, in this case a person named Ena Bán. This name can be read literally as well as an anagram, that is, a searching for (an)other name(s). In fact, both readings, instead of being readings for their own sake, correspond with the production and further manipulation with the spheres, especially with symmetry and inversion. The spheres were born; their surfaces are perfectly smooth, and they look as if they had no beginning and no ending. Each point of this surface can claim (without any higher ambitions) the position of the very beginning, the same as the position of the centre, or the ending – which can be(come) a new beginning. So much for the advantages of the perfect surface shape of the sphere.
In order to notice that the sphere also has a surface at all, it was necessary to undulate and ripple it slightly – to put it in a euphemism. The smoothness was purposely broken by the artist’s hand, while thanks to this simple gesture a previously non-existing depth was born. Thus, the sphere turned into something like a celestial body. The sphere’s surface, or more precisely its heights, was painted in black, and then the surface was imprinted on handmade paper due to the sphere’s rotation. If this was the case of a real solid, we could say that a map of it on a scale of 1 to 1 was created. However, this is not the case, so we can say nothing more but that a copy was created. Is that right? On one hand, the map was created in direct, physical contact with its original. Therefore, there is nothing on this map that is original.
On the other hand, it is impossible to substitute the map for the copy, as the map evidently differs from the original. In what way? In the lack of one dimension, that is, in depth. The map is not plastic, but it is square; it only has width and the length. The depth was lost in the process of imprinting. Even though some traces of it are left, they are square and as such – imperfect illusions of depth. These traces originated in the immediate contact of two objects, but still they are not bound together by a strict hierarchically organized relation of imitation, where the dominant role is played by the imitated original. Both objects are bound together by a free relation of similarity, which enables two different objects to be perceived as similar, while the difference (between the original and the model) is maintained. Nevertheless, the creation is not yet finished. On the contrary, the artist’s will has decided that the play will continue. What kind of play? Is this not an empty word which we like to use when we cannot sort out a certain problem? We must agree that in order to give this word a specific meaning, it is necessary to make the play’s qualities concrete. If we tried to search for some analogies (aware of the fact that every analogy is a little bit inaccurate), the best one to this artistic play would be the analogy with computer games. A PC game has its programmer and its levels, which enable a player to move within particular competence levels. A PC game makes it evident to a player which level is appropriate and which is inaccessible. So, the production of the spheres, the undulating and the rippling of their surface, as well as the imprinting of their surface on the handmade paper surface – these so far have been the levels which have not required specific knowledge.
The subsequent levels are obviously more difficult. Thus far, we have been moving on the level of the creation of an original, a model and its copy within generally stated analogous modeling. From now on, we will be moving on a qualitatively different level, that of digital modeling. In its beginning there was a scanning of the traces left by the rotating sphere on the handmade paper. Thanks to this scanning, a true copy was created. However, contrary to the original traces on the handmade paper, the scanning caused the transformation of an analog picture to a digital one, which can be actively used in the further creative process.
Although the digital picture was created as a copy of the picture created in an analog way, it can be manipulated in any way, while the extent of this manipulation depends solely on the quality of the computer software and on the artist ́s imagination. The digital picture became the starting point of a new manipulation aiming at the inverse operation to those operations performed in the process of the analog modeling. The previous modeling resulted in a 2D model based on the 3D original. The next artistic activity concentrated on the contrasting process: to create a much more complicated 3D model based on the 2D model. When the results of the 3D activity were set into motion, the model immediately became a 4D one. So, the movement of the pictures also became an indirect depiction of time. After all that has been said here, a simple rhetorical question can be raised: What was the meaning of such a complicated artistic activity: the exhibition of the artist, or the presentation of the latest computer technology possibilities? Neither of these is right. The meaning of the activity in question was not to create a computer sphere model as such, but to use it as an indirect model of thinking. Let’s put it in a simpler and hopefully more understandable way: the meaning of the 2D model transformation first to the 3D model and then even to the 4D one was to show how our thinking works, or to be more precise, how artistic thinking works when dealing with colours and colour spots. To show that what we see on canvas or carved in marble or drawn on paper has its very beginning in the artist ́s mind. There, the most important thing – a project (or a concept, if you like) – is born, and in the process of its materialization it becomes concrete and changes depending on its material qualities. In the beginning there was an Idea and three objects were born out of it – as we have already mentioned, there is something mythical in this statement.
In the beginning there was an Idea which originated in this way and that – this statement does not stand for anything mythical. Not long ago, similar statements only occupied philosophers and scientists. Fortunately, nowadays there are (and can be) artists busy with such kinds of statements. Don’t worry; despite this, it will not take long to get closer to the hidden mysteries of our mind. Anyway, sorting out these mysteries shows that what makes us different from other living creatures on our (we must say considerably devastated) planet is the degree of scientific, philosophical and artistic creativity of three siblings who have come here together with us and will probably leave this world with us, as well. Until this day comes, there will be evidence of this creativity, such as philosophical essays, scientific theories or works of art – the latter being represented here and now by the Cosmic Theatre.