Body of work - Our liminal state

My work here offers us a glimpse of the space in which we, in the physical body, exist - in the presence of something earthly and the surroundings of the eternal. We subside in this liminal space between consciously existing and non-existence   from the moment we are born.
 If we are condemned to life we are simultaneously obligated to be free from the structures imposed upon us because we are primitively constructed as ourselves, with the liberty to become ourselves.
 In the paintings we can now begin to choose, for ourselves as individuals, what it is we want to see, to believe, without a pre-conditioned or pre-existent element of choice – we may now begin to question, or we will forever dwell in the liminal shadows of nothingness.

 

Alfredo Jaar - Tate Modern:

Jaar exhibits at Tate Modern a dark space 

where one comes across two tables. They both have light boxes embedded in their surfaces and they are placed on top of one other in reverse positions. The tables are the same size but one is suspended and movable while the other one is grounded on the floor. When the two tables are on top of each other, the room becomes completely dark. As the suspended table is pulled upwards by strings tied on its legs, a rim of light starts to appear until the space becomes dominated by the bright lights that irradiate from the surfaces of the two tables. The viewer, thus, experiences the effect of becoming blind by the light, but this time it occurs gradually. After being suspended all the way, the upper table slowly goes back to its initial position and the room is filled with darkness again. By providing the public with the glare of light instead of visual images, Jaar invites people to reflect upon the questions raised on the texts presented. He gives us a sensorial experience which affects our stereotypical vision. 

Additionally, he reinforces the absence of the images by giving viewers a glimpse of emptiness 

through the bright screen and lit tables.Similarly to Jaar’s way of thinking, Plato’s Allegory of the Cave points out to the question of how society has its eyes closed to reality – or to the Truth - and how people are condemned to ignorance if they are not able to liberate themselves from their current human 

condition. 

The Unilever Series: Miroslaw Balka:

'Black Box'- Miroslaw Balka

The latest commission in The Unilever Series How It Is by Polish artist Miroslaw Balka is a giant grey steel structure with a vast dark chamber, which in construction reflects the surrounding architecture – almost as if the interior space of the Turbine Hall has been turned inside out. Hovering somewhere between sculpture and architecture, on 2-metre stilts, it stands 13 metres high and 30 metres long. Visitors can walk underneath it, listening to the echoing sound of footsteps on steel, or enter via a ramp into a pitch black interior, creating a sense of unease.

Underlying this chamber is a number of allusions to recent Polish history – the ramp at the entrance to the Ghetto in Warsaw, or the trucks which took Jews away to the camps of Treblinka or Auschwitz, for example. By entering the dark space, visitors place considerable trust in the organisation, something that could also be seen in relation to the recent risks often taken by immigrants travelling. Balka intends to provide an experience for visitors which is both personal and collective, creating a range of sensory and emotional experiences through sound, contrasting light and shade, individual experience and awareness of others, perhaps provoking feelings of apprehension, excitement or intrigue.

'Miroslaw Balka’s black hole at Tate Modern is terrifying, awe-inspiring and throught-provoking. It embraces you with a velvet chill'.
'The Guardian'