2017 0034 bodil nielsen: schleier
october 27, 2017 — january 7, 2018
viewable 24 hours
vernissage on thursday, october 26, 19 h
Schleier (or Veil) is a dynamic assemblage of material and immaterial components. It consists of long coloured lengths of fabric — transparent and semi-opaque magenta and yellow organza — layered and draped on a sisal thread that dissects the exhibition space diagonally. The fabric is slightly adorned by the addition of two white tassels of different sizes and one tiny closed bell. All components are loosely assembled as if to insist on the autonomy of the parts and the reversibility of the whole, the colour being an autonomous component or agent in itself as it bleeds into the space.
With a background in painting, Nielsen conceives of Schleier as a “picture” inhabiting its own space, which is detached from the viewer’s. The installation plays with perception and perspective, where colour takes the leading role, creating a perpetual oscillating movement between the optic and the haptic. It invites the viewer not only to a sensorial experience, but also to the decoding of cultural signifiers. It is something to wear and something to pass through, somewhere between a dancer’s veil and a stage curtain.
