04 Oct 2008

Erik Olofsen at P/////AKT Amsterdam

Between Dark and White: Three Exhibitions on Mental Space

with works of Erik Olofsen, Anami Schrijvers and Erica van Loon


Part II: Erik Olofsen - State of Delusion

P/////AKT presents three subsequent solo exhibitions. Each of the participating artists was invited to create his/hers mental space in the physical space of P/////AKT. Each artist was invited to make a new large scale installation, while the other two artists reacts to the work by presenting a smaller work, just like footnotes.

Part II of the series is State of Delusion by Erik Olofsen. The works of Erik Olofsen manipulate the physical space that houses them with false walls and wood, but often also with video projections and other perceptual means. Olofsen has worked very intensely in the last few years developing the idea of the physical and conceptual artificiality of constructions. State of Delusion is built in close consideration of the surrounding space. Measured, studied, re-arranged, the container is this artist's canvas. The walls are slanted to give a false sense of perspective. The optical illusions, the distorted images, the play of light and shadow generated by the projectors, make crossing the exhibition hall a new sensory, almost dizzying, experience. Olofsen deconstructs the room. He doesn't hide the sleight of hand, everything is out in the open, the rear of the walls that (mis)guide the viewer through false perspectives are in plain sight. The shadow cast by the visitor's own presence forms part and yet blocks the view of the landscape, which is in fact a video. The bewildered viewers feel artificial in an artificial construction: bewildered to find that not only are they caught in a trap that is foreign to them, but that they actually form part of it. It's like in those films where the amnesic lead character suddenly realizes at the end that he/she is the callous murderer, the cause of all the suffering. The victim stands in as judge, who is also a police officer and, to add a further layer of perversion, the perpetrator.


Part III: Anami Schrijvers with Erica van Loon and Erik Olofsen

Opening Saturday 8 November from 20h00-24h00

Exhibition dates 9 November to 30 November