M'barek, Pauline

Semiophoren, 2013

Video, HD, black and white, sound
14:28 min.


Acquired in 2014

Acquired by Stiftung Junge Kunst e.V. in 2014 © Pauline M’barek

Visible in a dark, undefined space are two hands wearing bright white gloves. Carefully groping and faintly audible, they move about, feeling the edges and contours of blackened objects that only become visible for a brief moment in front of the gloves’ whiteness. Like the space, the objects can be experienced through the interweaving of the senses of sight, touch, and hearing; they become visible and yet remain invisible. The artist borrowed the title, Semiophores, from the museologist Krzysztof Pomian, who uses this term to describe things that only become bearers of meaning beyond their purely material utility in the context of the museum.