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press
release - Peter Land
September
1 - October 7 2000
Opening
Friday September 1 from 18-20
It is a great pleasure to present an exhibition with video and works
on paper by Peter Land
In the main gallery: We present a video projection of Peter Land's
The Lake.
"In this video, the spectator is confronted with a man dressed
as an outdoorsman; a hunter, gun over his shoulder, who purposefully
strides through a forest-like environment. The soundtrack is taken
from Beethoven's 6th Symphony also known as the 'Pastoral'.
The object of his excursion is not revealed until he reaches a small
boat at the edge of a lake. He rows out into the middle of the lake,
fastens the boat to a pole in the water, all this still happening
to the tunes of Beethoven. He then proceeds to stand up in the boat
and releases the safety hatch on the gun, as if about to shoot ducks.
He then aims the gun at the boat and shoots.
Immediately at the sound of the shot the music stops.
The next half of the video shows the hunter sitting in the boat
as it slowly sinks until all that's left is the hunter's hat floating
on the surface of the lake. The only sound that can be heard is
birds chirping in the forest. The video finishes with a series of
shots of forest scenarios, insects, the sound of a cuckoo nearby,
etc. The forest without any human presence.
As in other of my works, The Lake revolves around the relationship
between the individual and the rest of the world. But in The Lake,
focus is very much directed at the impossibility of trying to imagine
the world without oneself in it. The idea that the world will continue,
also after I'm dead: A thought that's always scared me, but which
I guess I should find reassuring.
I'm also presenting four drawings, 'Copenhagen 11 December 1999'.By
trying to present a cityscape in which the law of gravity has ceased
to exist so that houses, people and cars etc. is flying around and
ultimately will enter orbit, I'm challenging the spectators (as
well as my own) idea of reality.
Another longstanding fascination of mine has been the work of the
'outsider' artist Henry J. Darger. The mere fact that this guy spent
a lifetime making two thousand drawings, and writing fifteen volumes
of text without anybody finding out until after his death is remarkable
in itself. But on top of that, these drawings are actually well
executed and give you an insight into the secret world of a very
remarkable man indeed.
He's most definitely the source of inspiration for my latest drawing:
The Children's Unit 1 - 2, in which I try to combine the dreamlike
quality of the fairytale, with the outrageousness of Marquis de
Sade. Basically I don't think that there's anything new in doing
that. If you read the stories collected and written by the Grimm
brothers, a lot of them are pretty scary themselves. And I firmly
believe that even the worst nightmare, the grimmest vision, simply
by being within the boundaries of human conception should be brought
out into the open rather than being suppressed.
Suppressing them, I think, is the same as running the risk that
they might come true."
Peter Land 23. 08. - 2000
On September 2. at 15.00 Peter Land will do a talk with Annika Ström
about their video works, organized by Videodrome, Copenhagen.
We wellcome you in the gallery,
Nicolai Wallner
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