Latvia, Austrian Alps, Munich.
Reminiscence is a video and scent installation that documents a poetic and cyclical gesture: the search for amber in the waves of the Latvian Baltic Sea —fossilized resin from ancient forests— and its symbolic return to its origin.
The first video (projected onto the wall) shows the collection of amber in the sea. The second video documents how I carry the amber into the alpine forests to release it at the source of a river, thereby enabling it to begin a new journey toward the ocean. A path from the sea to the mountain, and from the mountain back to the sea.
A higher-placed photograph invites the viewer to look upward; it features an image of pine trees —the original source of the amber— printed on wood. Directly underneath is a ceramic object that resembles a tree trunk found in the sea. The installation is completed by a pine-scented perfume: a reminiscence of European forests and a perspective on the cyclical, geological landscape.