Modus Oper-and-I
| In Modus Oper-and-I, Yateesha van Loon investigates the relationship between mental processes, visual language, and shared experience. The title is a wordplay on the Latin modus operandi — ‘mode of operating’ — which she rearranges to Modus Oper-and-I. ‘The method and I.’ A subtle shift that positions her within her own research practice. Central to the installation is a one-minute black-and-white film, presented on two side-by-side screens. As images jump between left and right, the participant wears an EEG-headband. This records brain activity and — via generative coding — translates it into an abstract line drawing, plotted on paper. The result is a visual archive of inner worlds: stemming from the same stimulus, but unique to each brain. The film shows a choreography of ferrofluid — a magnetic liquid — that unpredictably forms and reforms under the influence of invisible forces. The behavior of this fluid functions as a metaphor for the mental state: complex, reactive, and difficult to capture in words. Starting from her personal experience with OCD, Yateesha makes mental processes visible — not to explain them, but to make them palpable. Modus Oper-and-I invites reflection, wonder, and dialogue about the fragile boundary between the physical and the non-physical. |