My Other Selves
2017
Sculpture
Materials:
Collection: Collection M HKA, Antwerp (Inv. no. M00266).
Alain Arias-Misson’s The Other Selves refers to his “three selves”. Each of the cups in the work contains the memories, experiences and forms of language that correspond to one period in his life. One cup is linked to Arias-Misson at age 14, approximately. This is when he first loved poetry and felt his vocation. The text in the cup deals with memories of childhood and young boyhood. The second cup represents Arias-Misson as a young man (aged 18, 19, 20), dealing with sexuality, romance, passion and an awakening to life. The third and final cup relates to his life after the age of 70 and concepts like spiritual awakening, death and creative passion.
In the hologram the cups all swirl with their own energy, moving in and out of one another, always present in each other. At one point they pour from one into the other, affirming the continuity of time and the experiences in our lives. In the end the last, fully mixed cup is poured out, symbolising the vanishing of our physical and emotional life.
