From Catharsis to Inner Peace: Finding Purification Through a Common Belonging
The idea of purification has been a focus of human ethos since Aristotle first wrote about catharsis in his Poetics. Catharsis, according to Aristotle, refers to the purgation of emotions, particularly fear and pity, through the experience of art. In the aftermath of the pandemic, the concept of purification has taken on even more significance, prompting new metaphors and contemplation about matter and soul.
Created after the Covid health shock, during a long period of financial and humanitarian crises that manifested through refugees' tragedies, impoverishment, inflation and wars, the immersive multimedia e-textile art installation Inner Peace, curated and designed by Amelia Peng, MA Textiles student at the
Royal College of Art, in collaboration with music composers of the Royal College of Music, Foster + Partners’ Specialist modelling group and Italian textile weaver Dreamlux, which is currently presented in the London Design Biennale, 2023 in Somerset House, aims to inspire a sheltering feeling, encouraging an environment of authentic coexistence amidst uncertainty and complexity.
Using the powerful imagery of running water, Inner Peace invites the public into a therapeutic communion against the feelings of uneasiness, agony and fear that the recent health and socio-political conditions have provoked worldwide.
The water-like e-textile traverses the impressive and historically charged Nelson Staircase and is programmed to tune in with the collective emotional state, projecting the public's feelings through its colour fluctuations. While the audience's mood determines the visual effect, an interactive live musical performance will be composed based on this mass emotional revelation.
Within multiple spiritual and artistic references, such as the Japanese Zen Gardens, Bill Viola's video works or Yoko Ono's introspective "Water Piece", and by inviting us into a non-verbal communication ―a type of silent commune― Inner Peace enacts a metaphorical soul-purifying baptism, a unique rite of passage beyond time and space towards a new era of universal empathy.
Several disciplines intersect within this ambitious and compassionate project.
The way this collective aesthetic experience leads to an artistic healing creation is related to the cutting-edge science of neuro-aesthetics, a new field of research which studies brain mechanisms that respond to the arts for developing arts-based solutions that address real-world problems concerning brain health and neurodiversity.
The shared experience and the consequent feeling of profound embodiment produced through the artwork's multisensory nature open the path to enhance empathy, social bonding, and inclusiveness, as well as a sense of inherent connectedness to others and the world around us. This deep feeling of interconnectedness is the core principle of modern systems of thought as deep ecology and post-humanism. More specifically, the concept of deep ecology, developed by Nordic philosopher Arne Naess, stresses the interconnectedness of all living things and the importance of recognising and valuing the intrinsic worth of non-human beings. At the same time, post-humanism theorists, such as the Italian feminist intellectual Rosi Braidotti, argue for a reconceptualisation of the human as a distributed and hybrid entity that extends beyond the boundaries of the individual body.
The water imagery of the installation is a reminder of purification rites, as water has always been a symbol of birth and initiation. It also intersects with e-textile technology and music, pivotal to the installation. The soft system, conducted by EEG sensor to react the human emotional feedback into textiles was co-developed by the artist with Foster +Partners, SMG team, and installation planning by Alisha Roman, RCA MA Architect student.
Textile, after all, carries the identity of the female element, strongly connected with empathy and care, while its "machine intelligence" resonates with our current acute awareness of AI's fast development and the challenging questions it poses about creativity and the organic-inorganic interaction. Enriching the e-textile experience with a musical dimension, Peng allows individuals to connect profoundly with their inner selves before opening their senses to interconnectivity.
Music, which Oscar Wilde once described as "the art which is most nigh to tears and memories," has the power to stimulate emotions and experiences, reverting us to our genuine human state. By integrating music and e-textile technology, Inner Peace proposes a fresh humanitarian vision of potential uses, bridging the gap between the artificial and natural worlds, fostering empathy and a connection to nature, and proposing a new humanistic approach to technology and AI. Specifically, Peng collaborated for this project with Obe Vermeulen (“Inner Peace”), Isin Eray (“Kindness : Essenes of Water “), Jacques Allen (“Heal Inspire Love”) and Dimitris Menexopoulos (“The Dawn Light”), who are all music composers of the Royal College of Music.
Within innovative technologies and intersecting with multiple disciplines, this innovative multimedia installation pushes the boundaries of what art can achieve and offers a unique opportunity for visitors to connect with their inner selves, other humans, and the whole natural world around them.