"Hypnopompia" explores the complexities of translation and communication, testing linguistic transitions between English, Chinese, Italian, and Macedonian. However, no text directly translates another—meaning is lost, reshaped, and reimagined in the process.
The piece also integrates Morse code, featuring a segment of my poetry converted into a series of dots and dashes, adding another layer of fragmented communication. The soundscape further amplifies this theme, incorporating recordings of shortwave radio signals and a normal radio signal captured in a remote location where reception is nearly impossible. These elements create a liminal auditory experience, blending presence and absence, clarity and distortion.
Introduction to the Art Video
At its core, Hypnopompia embodies a metamodern approach to transcending the "Tower of Babel"—seeking tools not just for communication, but for deeper understanding. The work serves as a metaphorical "window" between reality and dream, a switch between realms, where personal references shift through the act of translation.
This piece is not solely about rhizomatic structures or neutralizing meaning. It also connects with concepts from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), where altering thoughts can reshape emotional responses. In this way, translation becomes more than a linguistic exercise—it transforms perception, inviting new thoughts to emerge as people engage with shifting textual and spatial contexts.
Why limit communication to a single language when we exist as a collective consciousness? In a world of transit—between languages, cultures, and states of being—this project encourages a participatory experience. Through engagement with subconscious and dream states, Hypnopompia opens a window not only to personal introspection but to a shared, deeper connection with others.
The Installation – A Work in Progress
As an artwork (rather than a theoretical or scientific endeavor), Hypnopompia offers an experiential journey—first sensory and visual, then cognitive. The installation will feature images, objects, and textual fragments, acting as triggers for imagination. Reading and speaking become active components of interaction, yet language barriers persist. For instance, a Japanese-speaking visitor might find no Japanese text, making the work partially site-specific, shaped by the linguistic landscape of its audience.
As Noam Chomsky suggests in Why Only Us:
"On this view, any given species uses a subset of species-specific primitive sounds to generate the vocalizations common to that species… Our hypothetical Martian would conclude that even at the level of peripheral externalization, there is one human language, one dog language, one frog language, and the like."
"Through Hypnopompia, I invite viewers to navigate these layers of meaning, translation, and connection—between self and other, between waking and dreaming, between sound and silence." - states Sarkis.
The project is part of the subthemes Re-imagining identity through poetry, The Ecology of Language - Poetry and Environmental Action, Poetry and the Digital Commons - New platforms, new audiences.
Author
Mo Maria Sarkis
Mo Maria Sarkis embarked on her artistic journey in 2004, initially focusing on painting as her primary medium. She showcased her early works in various exhibitions across Lebanon before expanding her practice through artistic residencies in France and Turkey. These experiences prompted her to explore new mediums beyond painting, leading to a deeper engagement with themes such as language, dialogue, and the concept of immortality.
During her 2010 residency in Paris, Mo Maria investigated the intricate relationship between humans and machines, capturing their interdependence during rush hour in the Paris Metro (Recording Movement1). Returning to Lebanon in 2011, she later participated in Ashkal Alwan’s 2013-2014 residency program, which brought together international artists.
Today, her practice has evolved into a multidisciplinary approach encompassing installations, video, and photography. Her current research delves into the expansion of linguistics beyond human communication, examining the ways in which various forms of machinery engage in dialogue.
Mo Maria seeks to further explore the language of machines and their role in contemporary society. Her work interrogates the political and aesthetic boundaries of public and private spaces, drawing inspiration from surrealist painting, the Dada movement, and spatial public installations. Influenced by the writings of French anthropologist Michel Foucault on public spaces, her recent work questions the role of machines, remote settlements, and the evolving landscape of communication.
She actively fosters interdisciplinary collaboration between art and fields such as architecture, science, and emerging technologies.
Selected Art Events & Exhibitions
2024
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November: Poem featured in DUSK – Women Poets of Lebanon, edited by Nada Ghosn and Paulina Spiechowicz. Read more
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October: Art video HYPNOPOMPIA showcased in the collective exhibition LIMITS at Laure Keyrouz Arts Gallery, Nervesa della Battaglia, Italy.
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February: Three poems (Stories about Vanni, Crossing, and Guns & Roses) published in Poetry Expo 24, a global digital poetry fair by Versopolis. The project aligns with themes of literature as a tool for social equality and global unity. Read more
2023
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September: Participated in VetteVertici – Mountains and Human Rights, a collective exhibition at Laure Keyrouz Arts Gallery, Italy.
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March: Artwork Complex, Fluxes2 featured in the Mundial Poético de Montevideo (9th edition), marking the first inclusion of Lebanese artists. Event page
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February: Complex, Fluxes2 showcased at Poetry Expo 23, exploring themes of human and artificial creativity. Read more
2022-2021
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Created illustrations for a book commissioned by Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung Beirut, Lebanon.
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August 2021: Participated in the Batroun Art Festival, Lebanon.
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2021: Attended the Home-Work Space Program by Ashkal Alwan, focusing on transdisciplinary and critical models of artistic study in Lebanon and the wider Arab region. More about Ashkal Alwan
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2021-2020: Developed the painting series Catharsis. View project
2019-2015
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2019: Collective exhibition in Aley, Lebanon.
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2018:
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Participated in TASHWEESH, a feminist art and conversation program supported by the Goethe Institute, Cairo, Egypt.
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Collective exhibition in Prilep, Republic of Macedonia.
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Published experimental poem View of Paved Land (English/Arabic), paired with a text by artist Phyllida Barlow, through Nile Sunset Annex. Read here
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2017-2019: Developed Unknown Territories – Sense of Self painting series.
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2016:
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Let’s Play Hopscotch interactive installation presented at Haven for Artists Festival, Baissour, Lebanon. Project page
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Solo photography exhibition Faces, Places, Beirut, Lebanon.
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2015:
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Complex, Fluxes2 exhibited at the Beirut Art Salon, AltCity Hamra, Lebanon.
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Participated in the Istanbul Coffee Festival Art Exhibition.
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Residency and exhibition at I:O Art Residence, Turkey.
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2014-2004
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A Museum of Immortality collective exhibition at Ashkal Alwan, Beirut, Lebanon. More here
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Participated in the HomeBase Project, Berlin, Germany (2013).
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Artist residency at La Générale en Manufacture, France (2010).
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Group exhibitions in Modus Gallery and Gallery Des Vosges, Paris (2007-2008).
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Participated in the Lebanese University Plastic Arts Department exhibition (2004).
Publications
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January 2016: Feature in ARTICULATE Contemporary Art Magazine, pages 34-39. Available in Spanish and Danish. Read here
July 2015: Featured in a Lebanese newspaper article (Arabic). Read here
