White on White

In general, white is synonymous with purity and virginity. While in western culture it is the traditional colour of wedding dresses, other cultures, like the Chinese or Indian, see it as a mourning colour which symbolises death and it is the colour of spirits. The white flag symbolises truce, capitulation or peaceful intentions at a time of war. When we split white light (using a prism), it gets separated into its component colours. So white light thus contains all other colours. Similarly, when we combine the acoustic signals of all frequencies, we get what we call white noise.

The white paper that surrounds a poem could be interpreted as a context in which the art is presented. Such context can have a profound influence on how the poem is perceived. The way a piece of art is presented can be just as important as the piece itself, because it can influence how it is received and understood. Sometimes the white bezel can be more important than the poem itself. It allows us to use our imagination or just take “footnotes”. Sometimes we simply scribble a phone number down there or a brilliant idea we would otherwise forget about. 

The presented student works focus on such contrasts and similarities between white colours which can create an illusion, cause confusion or incomprehensibility. Mimicry, an effort to blend in with the environment and minimise differences and contrasts. Thick fog, which is worse than thick darkness, because light makes no difference in fog. Some of the works are thus trying to act like they are an integral part of the environment and they have disappeared. Others are emerging into the space and becoming visible, even though we did not notice them at first.