etude for paradise
site specific installation >
2 chanel speakers, plastic tubes, aquarium plants, water, matal > dimensions: 1.80 X 0.60 X 1.40m, 2008

The installation “Etude for Paradise” is an inspiration made especially to be displayed in Christian churches and was presented for the first time in June 2008 in the frame of the Art festival at <48 Stunden Neukoeln>. In March 2009 was presented at the Anglican ChurchSt. Paul's, in Athens.

The installation Etude for Paradise presents a miniature garden inside a church. A system of plastic tubes allows the garden’s plants to grow together, while the sound of a piano lesson is heard in the background. The sound of the pupil’s continuing efforts to play the piece is juxtaposed with the miniature garden, which represents an idealised place or
paradise. The work examines the notion of perfection striving towards an unobtainable utopia.

The audience comes into contact with the display inside the church. The sound of the child's playing evokes memories of the childhood while the plants bring to mind botanical laboratories or greenhouses, places where one can observe, wonder and analyse the miracle of nature.
Circumstances which give birth to existential questions, which do not surface in our everyday routine but in places where the faithful congregate.
The Garden as a representation of Paradise and as an ideal place combines with the continuous striving for perfection and faith in order to obtain that, which seems unobtainable.

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© Eleni Papaioannou, 2008