DAVID LIESKE: "Then it began to flow out of me and in the course of three evenings the thing was written. As soon as i took up the pen, the whole ghostly assemblage evaporated. The room quietened and the atmosphere cleared. The haunting was over."
STANDARD (OSLO)
PRESS RELEASE
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DAVID LIESKE
"THEN IT BEGAN TO FLOW OUT OF ME AND IN THE COURSE OF THREE EVENINGS THE THING WAS WRITTEN. AS SOON AS I TOOK UP THE PEN, THE WHOLE GHOSTLY ASSEMBLAGE EVAPORATED. THE ROOM QUIETENED AND THE ATMOSPHERE CLEARED. THE HAUNTING WAS OVER."
14.12.2006-21.01.2007 / PREVIEW: 14.12.2006 / 19.00-21.00
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STANDARD (OSLO) is pleased to announce its first solo exhibition of the German artist David Lieske. Employing a phrase from the autobiography of Carl G. Jung as the title, Lieske's exhibition brings into play questions of representation and reproduction. At the centre of this discussion is Jung's brief text "Septem Sermones ad Mortuos". Proposing four different medias to reproduce the content of the book, Lieske ends up reflecting upon the inadequacy of the exhibition format and the problematical structure of 'inspiration'.
"The dead came back from Jerusalem, where they found not what they sought. They prayed me let them in and sought my word, and thus I began my teaching." With these words the psychoanalyst Carl G. Jung introduces the book "Septem Sermones ad Mortuos" ["The Seven Sermons To The Dead"]. Written in 1912, the book was never published - only privately printed and distributed to a select group of friends. Taking its point of departure from the ancient thinker and teacher Basiledes - based in the city of Alexandria in the first century - the book enters a discussion of ontology, the philosophy of being. Jung - using Basiledes' viewpoint as a Gnostic philosopher - advocates the need to connect with the transcendent, not through belief alone, but through a deeper experience of the invisible world that underlies the physical one. Merging this philosophical approach with his theories of psychoanalysis the text ends up balancing between scientific approach and adolescent fantasies.
Jung's discussion of being inevitably also relates to questions of translation into form within contemporary art practice. More than so, Lieske attempts at mirroring the work method employed by Jung. As indicated in the title, his idea was quickly transformed into form and published for a pre-selected audience - all done without necessarily knowing its relevance. Equally unsure, Lieske's works seem to reflect upon their own status of being second remote to the actual product. A bronze cast of the book is lying on the floor next to a plinth displaying ektachrome reproductions of every single page of the book. The inadequacy from these objects reminds one of the collapses of an artistic approach to control complex systems of references - essentially the problems of administrating information and aesthetics in artistic production after Conceptual art. Even when the text is read aloud in a sound piece (a recording of the German musician and art critic Dirk von Lowtzow) it remains opaque. The paradox is that the adjoining photograph depicting the artists reading the book leaves the viewer equally involved and informed. While the sound piece almost emblematically portrays how an ambience of information can be provided, its loyalty to information also provides a barrier.
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David Lieske (b. 19179), lives and works in Berlin. His most recent exhibitions includes the solo exhibition "Atlantis" at Galerie Daniel Buccholz (2006), as well as "Spiralen der Erinnerung" at Kunstverein Hamburg, Hamburg; "Galerie Daniel Buchholz, Köln, at Metro Pictures" at Metro Pictures, New York; and "Don Quijote" at Witte de With, Rotterdam.
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Installation photography: Stein Jørgensen
