European Centre for Art, Culture and Science

Tuesday December 4 2007

Autobiographical Memory (08/12/07) – Joseph Semah

A ‘woven neon work of art’ by artist/philosopher Joseph Semah (1948, Baghdad), with the main names in the history of Felix Meritis from the past to the present, will appear in the lift shaft of Felix Meritis. The work, which anchors names in reverse in neon on the brickwork, places the history of the building against the background of two centuries of cultural, social, political and economic development in the capital.

This work does not just record the memory of the building and its visitors, as well as of the city of Amsterdam and its international position. It also forms a kind of canon, a cultural, typographical atlas of Amsterdam.

Viewers will have to be active to read the reflected names as they go up in the lift. The blue of the letters refers to the water that has become sky and recalls Echo's desire for Narcissus who reads his future in the water. The lift takes the public to the Observatory, where the third stage of the work will be implemented at the end of 2008.

Autobiographical Memory is the second part of a three-part project (the first is the light installation Closed/Open: "After Sovereignty, Fear, Hospitality and Friendship"; Between remembering and retelling (1989).

The third part will be seen in the Observatory at the end of 2008. This Observatory, the flat roof of Felix Meritis, has not been accessible to the public since the end of the 19^th century. It was the spot where the members of Felix Meritis studied the stars and where Arthur Schopenhauer enjoyed the panoramic view of the city. The astronomical activities that took place in the past in the Observatory are now tilted: the secret of the stars appears on various points of the city.

The Dutch-Israeli artist Joseph Semah has been living and working in Amsterdam since 1981. He was born in Iraq (Baghdad, 1948), and grew up in Tel Aviv after 1950. He studied electronics and philosophy at the University of Tel Aviv. He moved to Europe around 1973 and lived in London, Berlin and Paris. He has been working as an artist since 1976. Works by Joseph Semah are present in museum, public and private collections in the Netherlands and abroad.

This work of art is made possible by:

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