‘Welcome to paradise’¹

Which world did you just came from? The slogan of the leisure world Delos in the science fiction film Westworld. Michael Crichton staged the vision of a futuristic leisure park in 1973. Who travels to Delos, enters a recreation paradise of swordplays and western heros. In place between deceiving real scenery of an ostensible past, every visitor can have the adventure of his life.

No other term inspires our dreams and expectations as much as paradise. In order to declare this, humans create special places, like in Stanislaw Lem’s novel Solaris, in movies like Westworld; at theme parks, shopping malls and urban residential- or sparetime complexes. The vision of something different - a tropical rain forretsts or african Savannah are designed at the zoo or at water parks. At leisure facilities real places can be copied exemplary or virtual ones can be build: the ‘Universe’ can be found next to the ‘Wild West’, the ‘Fairyland’ next to ‘Mexiko’. The look of an urban place becomes a scenery-like projection surface of our visions, too. An advertising sign on a facade is a promise and the attempt of a seduction, as well as a palm tree made of plastic at the Hafenstrasse in Hamburg. A public building which has the grace of an ufo promises to be unique and recalls all images of past science-fiction movies. Associations of a forward-looking society: join and foresight with us!

In her artistically discussion, Rivkah Young haunts these places, takes the viewers on a journey across a constructed and staged space. The image space appears like a deserted setting, abstract and without any dimension. Seperated from the concrete relation to their enviroment, the architecural constructedness even of an simple timber fence gets visible. An elementary relationship between the photograph and the scenery unveils on the images: the promise. Both refer to a real event and, nevertheless, show an imaginary world; the pay kiosk at the pleasure grounds corresponds to the image frame. Both call: enter and get enticed. Without noticing it, these are the own expectations which are reflected in the surface of the image, as well as in the mirrored facades of modern architecture.

To customise this newly-discovered paradisiacal space to her aesthetic imagination, the photographs are worked on digitally, sometimes even constructed. Just as with the paradise the validity of the occurrence is not to question. The recreated constructed image is not a documentation of true occurences, but a documentation of the characteristcs and enchantment of her personal paradise. Spare time and everyday life, vision and reality, future and past melt to a scenery of longings.

Delos consists of two parts; a book and an assortment of Exponates.

¹ Cit. From the John Borman’s movie ‘Zardoz’ from 1974.

Delos.pdf [4MB]

Special thanks to all the leisure facilities, which have supported me by the realisation of this work, in particular: Center Parcs Germany, Phantasialand Germany, Movie Park Germany, Zoom Erlebniswelt Germany, Tripsdrill Erlebnispark Germany, Sea Life Germany, Tropical Islands Germany, Evoluon Eindhoven Netherlands.






Delos
since  2007

Exponates
Text
Rivkah Young