Straddling the physical and the digital, the nature of modern life is increasingly hard to pin down. Being There, currently on show at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Denmark, explores the relationship between these simultaneous states of existence via nine scenarios. Each takes technology and the distinction 鈥 or overlap 鈥 between real and fake as its focus, but with widely divergent effect, showing the vital relevance of this topic.
(b.1991, USA), takes inspiration from the built environment, repurposing known shapes in sleek, high-spec materials, with the resulting sculptures being, as she puts it, 鈥渞ecognisable but not quite placeable.鈥 This she refers to as 鈥溾 鈥 a combination of known and unknown. Silicone has something almost human about its essential properties, yet cannot be considered apart from its association with the digital. The four pieces included are playful and deliberately flesh-like, aiming to provoke a sense of repulsion and fascination.
A deep interrogation of our desire to produce fiction underpins the questions posed by Dora Budor (b.1985, Croatia), who combines ready-made objects (rare modules by ) with an installation in which ash falls, forming a thick coat, triggered by any presence, or 鈥渋ntrusion鈥 in the room. As , these works are reactive: 鈥淲ithout the human agent in the space they don鈥檛 happen, they don鈥檛 exist.鈥 To what extent does something exist if nobody is watching? This is an age-old philosophical debate, but it has a new urgency in our perpetually switched-on, outward-facing world.
Along with the contributions of fellow artists 鈥 (b. 1990, USA), (b.1989, Switzerland), (b.1984, USA), (b.1983, USA/Belgium), (b.1982, UK), (b.1979, Switzerland), (both b.1981, USA)聽鈥 these pieces come together to ask essential questions about the contemporary condition. By turns funny, melancholic and even erotic, this show feels timely and essential.
Anna Feintuck
Being There runs until 25 February at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Denmark. Find out more .
Credits:
1.聽Loui Johannesburg and Yancey siana Museum of Modern Art, Being There, 10.10.2017-17.2.2018, Installation shot. Artist: Pamela Rosenkranz, Photo: Anders Sune Berg, Credit: Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebaek, Denmark.
