ULYVERSUM
Diploma work
Photo series, Lego miniitems
My Diploma Performance processed the 18 chapters of James Joyce’s masterpiece, Ulysess, 1922.
A novel, as the chronicle of the day of 16th June 1904, minor adventures of the main characters, Leopold Bloom and Stephan Dedalus, plus their environment pacing up their daily routine and tasks, then evening out at nightclubs, brothels, finally returning their nests and homes.
The story seems compact at plot level yet it expands various writing techniques: internal monologues filled up with rough accompanies & weird references. Thus we get to look into the characters’ core universe. Time dissolvesin experiences time. Events taking place at various venues simultaneously. In the rather chaotic organs the only cohesive power is the unceasing paralellism referring to the classic Odyssey, so Joyce’s characters and events may correspond with that of Homer’s. The novel might as well be taken as an Odyssey parody. An urban modernist social criticism, philosophical treatise intertwined cultural / ancient quotes and some toilet humour.
Taking the writing as a starting point, I created a photo series comprising 18 entries link to the numbered episodes of Joyce’s novel. During the desing process, I started to seak and sink my associations amid having the original text ebbing the horizone of my interpretation.
My Lego mini pieces are definitely representing the modern age’s Little Man; humorous, dramatic or even freaky flops and mobs in an environment set up with convenient items. For each stage, I tried to apply suitable forms and settings so that they could reinforce the rendered scenes. I wanted to take advantage of the possibilities offered by the Lego figures: they can be moved, disassembled, and their parts fit into each other. I aimed for density in content, compositions made with few props, but also very thought-through, calculated imaging. I took countless draft pictures and compositional settings, I worked on the pictures in a parallel way and thinking in a series, I fine-tuned them to each other. When selecting the objects and materials and when creating compositions, I was looking for content, form and mood related similarities between the text and plot of the novel. Sometimes, it’s a quite specific reference: for example, in the 7th episode, related to both of the main character's work at an editorial office, I used a daily newspaper’s cover from Dublin actually published on that day. Other times, I tried to reflect atmospheres through the settings, for example Stephen Dedalus’ feeling of being lost that urges him in the first chapter to leave his home and head into the unknown. The finally selected scenes that were photographed under studio conditions are the final result of a long experimental process. I meant the images to be further-thinking additions to the novel.
