FOMM IR-RIH

Fomm ir-rih

Fomm ir-Rih is composed of four speakers confronting four wind fans. The work was created through dialogue with philosopher Clive Zammit for the exhibition Metafourisms, curated by Niki Young and is a reaction to the following aphorism originated by the curator:

Fires burn at the depths, at an infinite ever retreating distance. Far from sight, imposing absent presences registered only faintly, opaquely. Each and every thing is a caricature. Every(thing) caricaturises.

Its aesthetic separates the two main components of the spoken word, the sound and the wind, and confronts them, revisiting the divine notion of the word as the breath of life. The work also challenges the power of the word and plays on the way we conceive confrontation. On a more playful level, the work also questions the ultimate destination of language, symbolised by our own speech.

Playing with the science behind this issue, it questions: If our spoken word, as sound waves, are reflected, refracted and ultimately decay, having their energy dissipated as heat, what happens to this heat when they are met with a cooling fan that is activated every time a word or phrase is uttered?