APOPHENIA

APOPHENIA (2021 – 2022)

Found book pages (from 5.75″ x 8″ to 18.25″ x 24.25″) in display cases

Apophenia - Gaye Chan
Gaye-Chan-Apophenia
Gaye-Chan-Apophenia
Gaye-Chan-Apophenia
Gaye-Chan-Apophenia
Gaye-Chan-Apophenia
Gaye-Chan-Apophenia

Apophenia consists of ‘printer spreads’ culled from discarded and disassembled atlases. In book publications there are two types of spreads. ‘Reader spreads’ flow in a cogent sequence (page 1, 2/3, 4/5, 6/7…) while the logic of ‘printer spreads’ is entirely dictated by the mechanics of book production (page 8/1, 2/7, 6/3, 4/5…). Thus, the content on paired halves of a ‘printer spread’ is happenstance. Nonetheless– sometimes a pair offers something seemingly coherent, if unintended. Sometimes, from atlases, imaginary geographies or alternative geopolitics appear.

Maps have long trained us on how and what to see. They supplant our memory of ourselves and knowledge of others. Lines are drawn across nonexistent boundaries allocating differences between people, demarcating states of belonging, regulating mobilities. The ‘maps’ of Apophenia are nonsense. There is no top, no bottom. No north, no south. No west, no east. Like all maps, they are pieces of paper.