PROCESS:

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The installation documents shame (hi)stories of five people. The first step in the process of creating EDEN OPEN SOURCE consisted of private meetings and conversations/workshops with them. I used various techniques and exercises to capture (and/or register) their touch, gestures and micro-tensions. We worked with different types of memory (verbal and non-verbal ones). An essential part of the process involved working with interoception and and deeply engaging other senses, such as touch and proprioception. We were continuously extending and transforming sensations and memories into handmade fabrics, gradually developing a unique technique for each aspect of shame and each person. Meetings proceeded gently and unhurriedly. Starting at the surface, we slowly dived in deeper and deeper. 

Writing was a parallel stage. For each person, I composed a set of 4 to 6 texts in which I gently attempted to lift the veil of their shame. Each person involved had continuous access to their story and was free to modify or edit the text to preserve their sense of safety and anonymity. We focused on the tension between the verbal and non-verbal aspects of shame, and on their complex dynamics.

Once the texts were completed and approved by each person, I moved on to producing audio materials in cooperation with a music and audio spaces composer and five voice performers (chosen according to the guidelines provided by the individuals I worked with, and the fantasies about how their shame should be avatarized). 

Simultaneously, from the very beginning of the process, I had been working on integrating all these elements: fabrics, sounds, sensations, fantasies, memories, and more. I was sewing the garments, designing, and prototyping the electronics and software (dynamic algorithms unique to each piece of shame).

Finally, for each person, I created an interactive, multisensory piece of clothing to act as an avatar of their shame. All the fabrics were handmade (bodymade) with the person's expressions sewn into them. They serve as a tangible extension of the process of listening and co-being. This is where I also placed what lingers at the threshold of silence.

In preparation for setting up the space for the installation I also created meditation tracks that serve as a meta narrative. They increase in musical complexity as more visitors listen to them simultaneously. Vocals (performed by the same persons who lent their voices to the avatars) recite stories about evolution perceived as a chain of accidental encounters - such as those encounters across differences that the installation is designed to trigger. The meditation blends the language of science (microbiology, especially holobiont theory) and poetry.