Ruach

The Breeze of an invisible Space

Ruach XI, 2016, 41 cm x 122 cm, Dip Pen Drawing, Ink on Paper.
10 hours Ruach, 2015, 40 cm x 122 cm, Marker pen on Paper.

The initial question and anylysis: What is the breath of a place and is a visualization possible?

Ruach is the Hebrew term for “wind” and “breath”. It is something that pervade an area and because of that the area starts being alive. With this example I also like to embrace a paradox, because the “Jew’s Path” is a part of a burial place where the breath is gone out of the human bodies. In the Jewish tradition, according to the Talmud, a person is considered dead when a feather held below his nose doesn’t move. The breath of life is gone.

Using the evidence collected during my investigation of this place, I am going a step further and illustrate the unconnected whiff from the individual.

Location: A hidden area. 400 meters long, 7 meters wide. Commonly known as the “Way of Communication” or “Jew’s Path” in Berlin.

The path is located behind Berlin’s first Jewish Cemetary and follows the length of the graveyard wall. It was used between 1827 and 1880. Two entrances are located on the adjecent streets. Today their doors are open only on special occasions. Because of that, the area in the middle of Berlin city is becoming an invisible Space.

Jew’s Path, Berlin 2016. Photo by Dean Olofsson

Researching the Material: what the stones have to tell

Structure. Bricks with the stamps of the manufacturers.
Frottage, research study, 2015. Left side: each 21 cm x 29,7 cm, right side: 236 cm x 71cm, Graphite on Paper.

Deconstruction of the Material: Disposition of the point of view

Through by deconstruction, the points of view which were unexplored are becoming visible. A transformed shape is an allegory for the transformation of the thoughts. A conversion is getting consummated. What was perceived as fact is now repositioned and appears in a previously unknown form, to be explored and interpreted.

In this phantasmagorical representation is found a language in which everything is possible. All boundaries become changeable.

Ruach in Motion 1-3, 2015. Digital Photocollage, 30 cm x 21 cm.

Dip Pen Drawings: Resuscitation in Lines

Ruach I

60 cm x 60 cm, Dip Pen Drawing, Ink on Paper, 2015

Ruach II

60 cm x 60 cm, Dip Pen Drawing, Ink on Paper, 2015

Ruach III

60 cm x 60 cm, Dip Pen Drawing, Ink on Paper, 2015

Ruach IV

60 cm x 60 cm, Dip Pen Drawing, Ink on Paper, 2015

Ruach V

60 cm x 60 cm, Dip Pen Drawing, Ink on Paper, 2015

Ruach VI

60 cm x 60 cm, Dip Pen Drawing, Ink on Paper, 2015

Ruach VII

60 cm x 60 cm, Dip Pen Drawing, Ink on Paper, 2015

Ruach VIII

60 cm x 60 cm, Dip Pen Drawing, Ink on Paper, 2015

Ruach IX

60 cm x 60 cm, Dip Pen Drawing, Ink on Paper, 2015

Ruach X

60 cm x 60 cm, Dip Pen Drawing, Ink on Paper, 2015

Measuring and Visualization:
Exploration and visualization of “Ruach” at the Jew’s Path

Jew’s Path, Berlin 2016. Photo by Dean Olofsson

1 hour Ruach

37 cm x 53 cm, Marker pen on Paper, 2015

3 hours Ruach

37 cm x 53 cm, Marker pen on Paper, 2015

Comparison

Ruach XI, 2016, 41 cm x 122 cm, Dip Pen Drawing, Ink on Paper.
10 hours Ruach, 2015, 40 cm x 122 cm, Marker pen on Paper.
10 hours of Ruach – reversion, 71cm x 201cm, Marker Pen on Paper, 2016