Technical description
The installation consists of 10 metal disks with different diameter (20 cm, 30 cm, 40 cm) with beeswax. The size is variable depending on the space provided.
Concept
SOCRATES: I would have you imagine,
then, that there exists in the mind of man a block of wax, which is of
different sizes in different men; harder, moister, and having more or less of
purity in one than another, and in some of an intermediate quality.
THEAETETUS: I see.
SOCRATES: Let us say that this
tablet is a gift of Memory, the mother of the Muses; and that when we wish to
remember anything which we have seen, or heard, or thought in our own minds, we
hold the wax to the perceptions and thoughts, and in that material receive the
impression of them as from the seal of a ring; and that we remember and know
what is imprinted as long as the image lasts; but when the image is effaced, or
cannot be taken, then we forget and do not know.
THEAETETUS: Very good.
SOCRATES: Now, when a person has
this knowledge, and is considering something which he sees or hears, may not
false opinion arise in the following manner?
THEAETETUS: In what manner?
SOCRATES: When he thinks what he
knows, sometimes to be what he knows, and sometimes to be what he does not
know. We were wrong before in denying the possibility of this.
SOCRATES: And the origin of truth
and error is as follows:—When the wax in the soul of any one is deep and
abundant, and smooth and perfectly tempered, then the impressions which pass
through the senses and sink into the heart of the soul, as Homer says in a
parable, meaning to indicate the likeness of the soul to wax (Kerh
Kerhos); these, I say, being pure and
clear, and having a sufficient depth of wax, are also lasting, and minds, such
as these, easily learn and easily retain, and are not liable to confusion, but
have true thoughts, for they have plenty of room, and having clear impressions
of things, as we term them, quickly distribute them into their proper places on
the block. And such men are called wise. Do you agree?
THEAETETUS: Entirely.
Excerpt from Plato's dialogue
"Theaetetus". About knowledge
What can you do while a wax candle is
burning? Forget. What can you forget while a wax candle is burning? Is it worth
remembering the forgotten, forgetting what you remembered? The wax burns,
melts, the flame lives. Everything has its duration. And memory. On whose wax
plate are your names written? And whose names are written on yours? As the wax
melts, new prints may appear. Are you open to the new? Or do you just want to
preserve what already exists? Everyone decides how to take care of his wax
plate..