THE PHANTOM IMAGE
The contemporary use of the word “phantom” can be defined as an apparition. The term is derived from the ancient greek word φᾰντᾰ́ζω (phantázō), meaning a vision, dream, or fantasy. The phantom image seems apparent to the senses while remaining transparent and ungraspable. Nevertheless, the phantom image is a future orientated object. It seeks to sketch hopeful prospects into viewers’ imaginations. The phantom image draws from the phenomenon of phantom settlements: nonexistent towns written into maps as copyright traps, but that often, through their naming, become inhabited realities. Mapping places that don’t yet exist, the phantom image urges viewers to erect these potential ideas into existence. The phantom image’s core remains intangible, but its goals belong firmly to the material world. Working as a ghostly cartographer, the phantom image asks that you finish its map by making its dreams into a reality.
