A Kassen | Intervention
Galleri Nicolai Wallner is pleased to present Intervention an Online presentation centred around A Kassen’s Lamppost series.
A lamppost runs through the wall between two rooms. Divided between two rooms, they become two cohesive, and yet quite distinct sculptures. Jutting into the space, the cement cluster on the end of the poles becomes a kind of abstract form, devoid of any connotation of what it might have previously been.
Artist group A Kassen (collaborating since 2004)’s practice is first and foremost an exploration of the relationship between form and content. Beginning with an object or an element, such as an everyday object, a material such as bronze, or something more ephemeral like a puddle or a reflection, A Kassen task themselves with acts of construction and deconstruction, with reinterpretation and re-appropriation, against the backdrop of questioning our preconceived notions of what the phenomenon in question really is.
The lamp end — while more recognizable — is transformed in this unexpected situation. Its top exposed, the lichen and moss covered patterns become beautifully abstract, while the ever-present glow of its light reminds us of its more practical, original purpose. Lampposts are fabricated objects made to withstand the elements, yet the end and the top of them are instead transformed by these same forces, becoming something unto themselves.
Left otherwise untouched by people—including, in that matter, the artists—the aesthetic intrigue and beauty that comes from the way the dirt groups itself, or how the moss decides which way to grow over time is a product of its unique environment. This individuality reveals itself as you move through the space, observing both parts of the work.
Through these subtle and careful manipulations, A Kassen create works that are necessarily meant to be seen through the context of art and aesthetics. It is not so much a question of what happens when these works are placed within an institutional art setting, but rather what happens when we take something that we have come to see as ordinary or mundane, and see it through the lens of “art”. With this in mind, the role of the spectator becomes central. Conceived as an integral part of the work, the spectator becomes an interpreter, creating layers of meaning and understanding for each of the works, re-writing their narratives.
