Sleepwalker Archives Vol.4: “Objects of Reality” Show & Tell, shifted the curatorial lens inward. Instead of analysing artworks or media environments, we turned to personal objects as triggers of memory, perception, and critical questioning. Each participant was asked to bring an object that embodied or destabilised their sense of the “real.” The session moved through four parts: opening reflections on “truth,” individual object sharing, a group discussion, and a final mapping of sensory and conceptual keywords.
I brought a photograph I took during my visit to the Louvre, where I saw Mona Lisa for the first time. Despite anticipating a moment of awe, what struck me most was the distance—the layers of glass, barriers, and smartphones that mediate one of the most iconic artworks in history. The painting seemed less present than its myth. I questioned whether I had really “seen” it, or simply witnessed its aura—a term Walter Benjamin used to describe the singular presence of an artwork that becomes diluted through reproduction and spectacle.¹
Photograph taken by the author
This image, though deeply personal, also reveals institutional mechanisms of viewing: how we’re choreographed as spectators, how value is constructed through protection, and how perception is regulated by systematised distance. The moment recalled not just the painting, but the politics around it—who gets to see, how, and under what conditions.
Sharing this object allowed me to reflect on a larger curatorial principle: that reality is always mediated—through sound, through framing, through narrative, and through objects. In a world saturated with replicas and rituals of authenticity, perhaps our sense of the “real” lies not in what is seen, but in what is felt to be inaccessible.
References
1、Walter Benjamin, The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, trans. Harry Zohn (New York: Schocken Books, 1969).
8 April 2025 at 21:48
Your blog has really taken shape! The ICP is coming together nicely too. Taking the feedback from our tutorial into consideration as well as engaging further with your own independent research have really shifted the focus and idea of your work. I suggest to identify- if any- connection between the two artists you wish to collaborate with. Do they explore similar themes in their work or is it primarily their approach to making that have influenced you to select these two artists? Try to be as explicit as possible and provide evidence. The research and entries on The Sleepwalkers as well as your engagement with the group has also really developed in the last few weeks. You have included strong examples of contemporary art practice in your blog. Remember to critically reflect on the theory and practice that interest you to develop your own voice. If sound is something of interest I recommend having a look at Counterflows and Radiophrenia (festivals that happens in Glasgow).