Le Vide AUM is a 13 years durational Performance artwork by the artist Ki Niet A IK’tein. It started on August 1st of 2016 at 11:27:47 UTC and finishes on August 1st of 2029, at 11:27:47 UTC.
Le Vide AUM is a fusion of two concepts. Le Vide is a French term and refers to the void that may be trespassed, meaning, a portal. It has been used as a reference in the work of Yves Klein, which alludes to the spaces of immaterial sensitivity[1] and, especially, to his work ‘Saut dans Le Vide’, from 1959. AUM is a concept and a symbol used in various religions and cultures. It refers to the sound of universal creation, a resonance that remains and that allows for the conscience of everything. Therefore, the first definition of Le Vide AUM is: ‘The empty space that allows the inhabitance of universal resonance’.
The purpose of this artwork is to contextualize the present and intensify it by containing its asymptotic voice, allowing for a portal between the third and the fourth state of conscience before the eyes of humanity: the evolution of the being, from itself to the cosmos, by communicating with our quantic being[2].
THE STRATEGY TO CONSTRUCT this framework is based on the comprehensive trilogy of the soul, the mind and the body, identifying each of these parts as autonomously dependent ambits, which will be treated at different scales, based on the use of the diversity of human tools.
On the one hand, the SOUL is understood as the energy that defines the body, as information in its pure state. It is believed that the internal and external Universe are built by the same, therefore, the work suggests a voyage through the territory of the Being as a method to construct the portal towards the cosmos. At a greater scale, an opportunity is explored through information technology, which allows to visualize the virtual landscape of Planet Earth[3]. Different densities of information are explored, which allow for a solid framework, the void that it contains and vice versa.
On the other hand, the MIND is understood as the rational structure of the senses, that allows for the understanding of being. This framework behaves as a communication tool, allowing for the collective co-being of immaterial sensitivity. Within this ambit, different technical and scientific disciplines are explored, to visualize the digital relation between the objects that participate in the phenomena of relations, the global expansion of the concept, the material and economical sustainability of this performance artwork.
Thirdly, the BODY is understood as densified information, meaning that it specifies the quantic possibilities to generate the tangible dimension, where form appears as a result of relational processes and where one of these structures is life itself. The perception of this framework is instinctive and primitive, based on space and time linearity. An evolution towards a relation vision is thus suggested, bestowing value to the empty space that connects the tangible dimension. Each physical artwork of Le Vide AUM is a totem that is trespassed by an immaterial sculpture. Certain body exercises are used to develop this point and the possibilities of technology are so researched[4]. The body is a network of fragments, a research of the post-human[5].
Performance art is a relational phenomenon, that invites to participate to collectively co-inhabit the immaterial sculpture, built through the connectivity of each of its parts. It is an invitation to belonging.
[1]Yves Klein, ‘The evolution of art towards the immaterial dimension’, Conference at La Soborna, Paris, 1959
[2] According to The Doubling Theory by Jean Pierre Garnier Malet, a personal link is developed with the state of being that is disconnected from the here and now. Different methods of ‘communication’ are explored, based on the inhabitance of the spaced of immaterial sensitivity.
[3] There is a particular interest in participating in the evolution of the Web 2.0 or 3.0, where technologies, such as Blockchain, allow the possibility of consolidating the global brain, the noosphere (a concept presented by Pierre Teilhard in his book ‘The future of man’ published in 1964)
[4] Technological advance is understood as something organic and evolutionary, that allows us greater connection and connectivity. Yet, the artwork ponders on its usage and its addition to daily life, its limits and ethical aspects.
[5] This references the work of Stelarc in terms of the post-human body, where this connection to technology allows to perceive the virtual world itself and the evolution of the human being by inhabiting the autonomous dimension.
