'heart massage' -art installation

! 'heart massage' (love sick) installation. February 2005 by me. (the girl in the back at the wall is me). The whole idea came about as I realized that what I felt was like a heart massage. My heart was maybe broken, but I doubt it. I was terribly love sick and I have never experienced something like that before, but my heart really was massaged throughout the whole time. I couldn't decribe it in a better way. So I decided to transform my pain into art, and the creative process and also the realizations I had while developing the idea helped me so much that I think I achieved something in two weeks, what usually takes a lot more time. I really felt transformed thereafter and I felt I was at a new level then and could go on from there. It was really amazing.

The head of the puppet you see at the right corner is a first aid dummy. If one gave the dummy a heart massage it switched on the electricity for the light and music installation which gave an insight in what happens inside a person when she/he is love sick. The cellophane tarp labyrinth with transparent photos on it symbolized the sweet and at times painful memories in which one is trapped and the sound was taken from Mullholland Drive when this girl cries and masturbates in the same time and I added some sobbing from myself too. The whole thing would vanish at once, by the next push on the dummy's chest.

In one corner there was a TV running mute as to symbolize how things just keep on going no matter what happens to you. There was, however, an exit to the whole labyrinth; a marked off door which lead to a very small space in which there was only the sound of heartbeating, a very kitschy plush heart, a candle and a mirror in which one looked when looking into this little room. The idea was, that the solution to the whole problem is to face oneself, to come back to oneself, to confront oneself in order to gain back your heart ..... You'll find below some more photos of the installation...