desire and science, 2022
DATA
Title of Work: Desire and Science
2022, Series Name: Personal Hieroglyphs
A: Desire and Science: All I Have is Mine
12 x 8.5 inches | Acrylic on paper and wood panel
B: Desire and Science: The Unity of Time and the Mortality of Thought
12 x 8.5 inches | Acrylic on paper and wood panel
C: Desire and Science: All I Have is Yours
12 x 8.5 inches | Acrylic on paper and wood panel
D: Desire and Science Back plate A : Superego Supreme
10 x 6.5 inches | Acrylic on paper and found wood, glass, rusted screws, nickel-plated steel wire, audio cassette tape
E/ E1: Sound Piece: Wiresail 1, A.k.a: The Song (of the Ocean). In a dream that lasted an eternity, the silence went on and on and he could take it no more. Eons passed before It came. It glided through the silence in soft wisps and gentle purls and his heart was filled with hope and gladness once more. A.k.a: Method of Loci
Low-fidelity (Lo-fi) audio, Sound created with metal plate, instrument cable, paper napkin, table fan, signal amplifier

CONTEXT
Desire and Science is a multimedia work from the Personal Hieroglyphs series. It consists of six separate parts. The first object (panel A) depicts an image of a bottle in strong vertical profile – it stands somewhat cold and solitary. Another picture (panel C) depicts a pomegranate cut in half and forced into profile to resemble a chalice. The third (panel B) depicts an object that has been taken apart to represent something from the past – a memory. The fourth, fifth and sixth form the back plate and comprises of a companion work — a sound piece (D, E, E1). E1 consists of a low-fidelity recording of electric hum, static, hisses, distorted feedback and ambience sounds, as a partially connected instrument cable sways in an airstream generated by a table fan and occasionally comes into contact with the metal plate. Each contact between the end of the cable and the metal plate generates a sharp buzz/pop that interrupts the already dense hum from the powered amplifier.
The bottle in this series represents masculine tendencies and instincts. The chalice, by nature, cups and contains – it nurtures and protects, and represents the feminine. The pictures are juxtaposed with the sound , the idea of desire as a human ego, emotion, and with the concept of science – which by itself, in its most rudimentary form, is the asking of questions. The seeds of science lie in the questions we ask. Now, once a question is asked, the answers we come up with could be anything from accurate to wrong, nonsensical and not-in-the-least-bit "scientific". But there cannot be an answer if a question is not asked. And we all have questions. We all go through the natural processes of life experiencing everything from happiness to sorrow and other emotions and ask why? How? Who? etc. etc.
Coupled with the narrative of the series, Desire and Science does not just contain scenes from a characters thoughts and experiences, but are also a way of bringing what are otherwise viewed as disparate ideas and merging them with our instinctual needs for reason by asking questions and "allocating" answers.