Blue Horns
25 October - 26 November 2019
Erti Gallery, Tbilisi
My fingers shrink when signing. These gadgets lately... I open the folder for notes on my 5.45inch phone screen to make another try at signing a document. It does not take long for me to notice all the imperfections of my screen-based signature. Once again, I start from scratch and draw a line by hand, but it looks so artificial.
It is true, it has been long since I last used a notebook instead of the ‘Notes’ application, yet my fingers are used to typing, not drawing on the touch screen. Drawing is somewhat terrifying. My fingers perform poorly, acting like bodies on their first yoga class. It is true, not that I have taken yoga classes in ages, since my freelancer life style and small gadgets give me the flexibility to work anytime at any place. All that is needed is access to the internet and fingers, better start taking yoga classes for finger practice?
It has been quite a long while since I smoked my last cigarette, but the situation makes me crave for another drag. I grab one from my grandparents’ pockets. It seems one can never forget how to smoke. My fingers stretch again drawing a fine curving line in the room. Smoke follows the gesture, leaving a curvy trace in the space. It would have been so much easier to sign the document in space, with cigarette smoke.
I now stretch my back, and in full confidence return to the gadget. My stretched fingers confidently shrink again to fit the screen. The lines they draw are far too wide for a narrow document such this.
This reminds me that smoking no longer fits the everyday, it definitely is from another time, belonging to that ‘other’ time from the past, when fingers appeared stretched and proud in spacious rooms, and cabinets for signing documents.
Mainly, one can describe the times, as the manly times they were. Hand gestures modify as times change. In fact ‘the’ times may dictate hand gestures. This makes me think whether the ‘times’ were manly first, or the gestures made them manly?
Text by Elene Abashidze
Andro Semeiko, PEER, BALTIC, TATE, Andrew Hunt, Sally O'Reilly, Ingrid Swenson, Mike Nelson, Fiona Banner, contemporary art, contemporary painting, installation,
Semeiko's forthcoming project:
'Emotionarama', publication and performances, edited by Andrew Hunt, published by Slimvolume, book launch and performances will take place on 3-4 April at PEER in London, 9 May at BALTIC in Gateshead, and other public venues in England and Scotland, UK (spring-autumn 2020)