Miné Kleynhans
ajiuO : turning messages into spirits (2021)
ajiuO : turning messages into spirits is a performative installation piece that makes a satirical attempt at translating the daily onslaught of incoherent massages received through media sources into ‘meaningful’ interpretations. The artwork’s participatory component is run through social media and invites users to volunteer any text that they have encountered recently that made them feel dumbfounded, confused and out of touch with the contemporary world. Restructuring the customary Ouija bord, the device allows text to guide the movement of pens on paper – creating an ink drawing in a mock-ritualistic fashion. The artwork playfully posits that these drawings can be ‘read’ in a divinatory manner to gain some insight or understanding into the ‘spirit’ of utterances or the zeitgeist that they represent.
