THE TREE

by Gustaf Broms

2009-12
3 channel video installation -  56 minutes loop

" I grew up in a city - an environment constructed by humans,
all that my senses registered had been filtered through the human intellect. This experience gave me a warped sense of REALITY that was reinforced by living in a time and a culture that celebrates an anthropocentric perspective.

The second part of my life, I kept this body surrounded by organic nature, were the information read by my senses follow different patterns and rythms, without obvious borders between organisms,  and a different sense of time (cyclic, eternal) compared to the city.

My intellect has made it clear that this body is an insignificant part of this wonderous system and the illusion of my seperation is only because of language.

This film is an attempt at atonement, to merge two views of my being, as  being a biological process ( body, nature ),
and being an intellectual being (mind, thought, will).

To try to see my own movements in the same cyclical process that permeates NATURE, as a series of simplified symbols of intellect in realtion to the rythm of nature.

gb 2012

In 1966 this human body was born, it was given the name Gustaf Broms. This concept now exists in a place called Sweden.

To use the time in this predicament as a way to explore the nature of consciousness. Trying to make a translation of the flow of life into a condensed symbol, as a tool for understanding. Spending the last few years looking into the dualistic concept of  “I”, in terms of association with the idea of BEING NATURE, as the actual biological reality this body goes through, and BEING MIND as a very direct experience of REALITY.

Started out using physical materials (photography, installations) for this exploration, two works led me towards a more formless process. In 1991 I burnt all my work, and realized how the intensity of the action, and the remaining ash far outdid anything I had previously done. In 2005 after the work “5 faiths for a brave new world”, with objects that became physically too heavy for this body to move.
These two experiences created a longing to explore the FORMLESS, and led up to the project “ a walking piece” (with Trish Littler),  a walk from Vendel to Odessa.

During the walk, it became very clear to me that my experience was a reflection of my thoughts and attitudes, rather than what my senses registered.