in my house 1 susanne layla petersen 15/1/20
The first resident of 'In My House' is Susanne Layla Petersen, a digital artist and writer based in Copenhagen. Her online presence is GlassLabs (links below).
For the first exhibition of this project Susanne is presenting a solo exhibition of 7 videos and 20 images titled 'The End of the World as we know it'. This series is played on tv screens and computer monitors on a continuous loop in each room, unifying the space within the theme of the changing visual landscape.
Each piece has been manipulated using editing software to provide an unsettling glitch in both the static images and the video works. The glitch embeds itself within the moving image and creates a sense of unease. The presence of a glitch in any situation normally suggests a problem, an issue or irregularity that needs to be confronted or looked into. In my interpretation, Susanne is suggesting there is something not quite right with what we are looking at. As the camera pans across the detached pieces of ice for example, a little glitch accentuates the gaps in between the frozen sheets, suggesting that these gaps shoudnt be there in the first place, that these gaps are the problem that needs fixing. That the world as we currently know it is beginning to malfunction.
Each video seems to have been recorded whilst in flight, and provides a clear but fleeting glimpse of our world in a variety of different terrains and climates. The work has a sublime quality, a sense that these settings appear beautiful and vast, and provoke an overwhelming feeling of insignificance. Yet these landscapes are not undisturbed. Each glitch proposes that we should be a bit more concerned about what we are viewing and look beyond the aesthetic awe.
My curatorial intention with this series was to exhibit it on its own as a solo show to accentuate its context. There are obvious associations between this work and discussions about climate change and global warming that are hard to ignore. This subject is frighteningly relevant at the moment, and its imagery can become more striking when presented on a repetitive scale. I wanted to present the work as a continuous looped film, and play it on each screen available in my house to increase its impact. It made me think of a hacker in a crime show infiltrating the national grid and playing a threatening message on every tv in the country. I wanted to embody this idea in a way and use screens and monitors to promote an atmosphere of infiltration, provoke a sense of urgency.
Most households have at least one television. I wanted to present the work on the devices readily available in this space, so its context became a part of the house. Where do most people sit when they are at home? What do most people do when they get home from work? Plonk themselves in front of the tv or their computer. In my house, you are presented with 'The End of the World as we know it', on a loop, in every room with a tv. It's unavoidable. With this choice of presentation, i believe the work becomes quite confrontational, perhaps more-so than if it were presented in a gallery as its subject is universally relevant and socially engaging. The work becomes an intervention in this domestic space, and I really enjoy that.
artist links:
@glasslabs_art
