Logaine: It happened in both ways. Most of the texts/letters I already had, they were not only love letters though, some are written while I was thinking about someone or they are basically texts that I wrote in different moments, but they are not letters in the actual sense as I never sent them to anyone . When I actually found out about a book object contest, I thought I should get into it; I spoke to one of my friend who is a visual artist and said we should together plan something for this. I said that I have lot of letters and texts and we have to do something that has to deal with Love. I already had decided the name Epistola Diastole. This is how I generally work, first I decide the concept or name then I search for the form according to it. We started executing it for the contest but we came to know that the contest was postponed and finally after it got finished, it was never part of any contest.
Me: Is the idea of making a box in the form of a book something to say that it is a compilation of letters thus adapting the trope of the book was important though it is functionally a box, or because the form of book has a different physical/historical function all together. What is the motivating force to bring the aspect of book and box together?
Logaine: We didn’t wonder that much about their value, it is something to redefine the approaches towards a book, it was to create a interactive space/object rather than having a mere passive approach.There are books of special things,there are boxes where you keep memories deposits of what you want to preserve. However in the context of this work it is the reading the personal’s of the other, looking at other people’s life in voyeurism. I think you are familiar with the notion that a Person’s personal are something that we should not look at, so this is something which is a take on that and we wanted people to read somebody else‘s personal life’s memoirs.
Me: At a conceptual level Love is something which can be considered as a universal concept even though it has different expressions according to its contexts. So, what was the reason behind adapting such a concept as a main area of interest? And you also said that it is a recurring theme in many of your works
Logaine: In specific reference to this work each letter is actually made, we did try and reflect typical cliché love scenarios. For Instance - The Platonic love where you always love, look up and never actually convey your love. Some other love letters are that denote the typical clichés of love. Other than this more importantly we had a set of letters which we call love letters though they are not love letters in the conventional sense. For Instance – There is a letter written by a woman explaining how much she loves her own self, so these are also a kind of expressions of love, in that sense this was also an attempt to move away from the normative clichés of understanding love as it was understood. It was the reason we wanted the work to be colorful and childish as it had to create a space for play, to play a game called love.
Me: So in that sense it is a Book, But it is not a Book, it is about love but it is not about love, Interesting.. What is the meaning of the title Epistola Diastole?
Logaine: You are right, it is in the form of a book but it is not a book it is a box that appears as a book, it is about love but it is not just about typical clichés of love. Well, the word Epistola Diastole can be understood as Letters from the Heart, it is also kept for the phonetic similarity.
Me: You said that the National Library in Peru didn’t accepted this as a book so how did you deal with that then?
Logaine : The National library of Peru hasn’t accepted this work as a book so in order to negotiate we compiled all the letters that we had for the project and made it in the form of a book and then kept them there. So we have to change the box into a book in this context, but that doesn’t mean that we have changed the whole idea and this can also be understood as one of the attempts.
Me: Did you display this work somewhere, what were the kinds of responses you got?
Logaine: We made around 55 copies of this work and it was displayed in the cultural centre of Argentina and later the copies went to different people and friends all over the world. Responses were good. Everyone liked the interactive space that this small colorful box has created with its contents. And to clarify we never duplicated it again but it does leave lot of memories behind.
Me: The website of this work seems like an interactive space by itself, every part of the work can be closely looked at. What made you to keep the process of the work in such detailed manner in the website?
Logane : Six Months later to the work was made we thought that we will put it on a website ,we would like someone else to see it and have it, that was the main reason to create the book itself. The whole process of how is it made is explained in the website. But the website is wholly designed by my friend who had also collaborated with me in this project.
Me: What made you interested in this residency and how does Indian culture appear to you, and what are your plans for this residency?
Logaine: When I heard about this residency on bookmaking and that too in India I thought wow my two dreams came together, books are my passion, thus I immediately wanted to take part in it. As far as the culture and practice is concerned, here in India the things obviously appear to me different because I come from a different background all together, and I want to say that it is definitely a good experience where I can see diverse ways of approaching a subject. The project which I am going to do here is titled as Random Reflections which can be understood as thoughts that have no sense between them as of now, as they are still in process, they appear as senseless objects and thoughts, I hope they stand as something when they come together at the end.
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