Inspired by the paintings of René Magritte and H.G. Wells' short story The Door in the Wall, this project about "worlds" is an exploration of the presence of "meaning." Creating an entire "world" seems like an enormous task, so instead I sought to suggest a world via an entry point (a little piece of a world).

Doors are entry points. Magritte paints doors. In particular, Magritte paints shut doors with gloopy holes in them (enormous presence in my body and my nighttimes). I collected Magritte's gloopy holes and mapped key points in each image.

Magritte insists that his paintings don't contain meaning. (what does it mean (ha) to contain meaning? if you just pile in some words that mean something, does that put meaning into the image?)

The Door in the Wall is about a boy who passes through a green door in a white wall to escape from the gray world of responsibilities and boredom into a lush world of imagination. Throughout his life, he periodically chooses between the obligations of the gray world and the potential to be creative and free in the green world. But, except for his first childhood visit to the world behind the green door, he always chooses the former, until he chooses death (another door?)

I dumped the text of H.G. Wells' story into the key points of the Magritte paintings. Then I also dumped randomly-generated English-looking text into the key points of the Magritte paintings. Which one contains more meaning? ((does either? to whom? do you have to know to understand? what worlds are in our interpretations alone? does it change when we are handed an explanation? a hint? a story?))

Door =?= permission to pass through (skepticism); a choice to go through the green door to a creative, imaginative world; an invitation to be in the room; the meaning of a whole world dumped into/suggesting by a single entry point

I'm breaking. I'm striving on choosing on going through the ephemeral green door.

I'm piling meanings in words (can only i understand if only i know?) into things that mean much to me in other words (not words).

Merci Magritte, et les autres.