2014
Installation
"This installation was created for the group exhibition Confessions.
Sara Laviashvili carries out a sensory and formal exploration of the Christian confessional booth – a space designed for specific action and governed by clear rules: the priest sits on one side of the space and the penitent on the other, separated by a dividing element that blocks their vision, allowing only voice to transfer. Laviashvili examines the foundation of the confessional act, which starts from introspection, turning inwards, and continues outwards in the confessional. This exploration of the act of confessing and the confessional booth generated the piece created for this exhibition: a site-specific installation that draws on the elements of the confessional structure as well as architectural elements in the gallery associated with exposure and concealment. The work Reflex deconstructs the structure of the confessional, and with that undermines the mechanism of confession as essentially dichotomous and hierarchical. Laviashvili creates an open space, which facilitates multiple perspectives and gazes that move between the visible, the revealed, and the hidden; between reflecting the viewer to reflections of elements in the space, and the ability to see through them."