2019 - in progress

Herma

Concept

Herma (work in progress) forms a sculptural text-based light installation of 32 words. It stems from We Are All Cities series of works. Herma - from the Ancient Greek έρμα - delineates the ballast and foundation in nautical terms; the reef in geological terms and the intentions, ethical principles. A process, an object, a site that holds something united, identified, intentional: a material and ethical mark. Influenced by the Greek ‘herma’ (Hermes) ancient sculptural columns of rectangular shape often placed at intersections, borders, boundaries, roads, public places, both as sign-posts and signifiers of luck. The work Herma intends to create a geopoetic marker as a situated ephemeral experience; an expanded sculptural object of neon words for inscribed grand concepts, processes, conditions and perspectives which oscillate between micro and macro scale; extending from atom and cell to flesh, mind, city, history, philosophy, geology. Herma intends to act as a metamodern light situation; a conceptual hyperlink in the midst of things, which creates space for thinking, “distilling the eternal from the transitory” (Baudelaire, 1864). Herma develops a sensitivity to the ephemeral, the geological, the emotional, the material, the mundane, the sacred and the Cartesian. Herma presents a series of words ending with -cities suffix. It reveals the affective and sculptural qualities of word; creating an in-situ conceptual tank of illuminated meanings. Herma intends to create an expanded situation at the intersections of site-specific art, installation and poetry.

Inspiration

Inspired by herma blocks of stone or other boundary stones (ancient Greece), inuksuk (Greenland), cairns (Scotland) and other landmarks which marked boundaries, streets, lands. Other references include Terminus as god of boundaries and thresholds, something which is further explored in IANUS (see Installation section).

Description

Text-based installation of 32 neon light words

Dimensions: variable (~10/20cm), white colour, cable and power supplies

Year: 2019 – today (in progress)

Credits

Concept - Creation: Bill Psarras

Technical assistance: various

Note

The work has been conceived and designed mainly for public space (crossroads and intersecting sites), but also for open spaces (terraces)