Björn Dahlem
Focus imaginarius (Aus fernen Welten)

Opening: 15/03/2011
Exhibition: 16/03/2011 – 24/04/2011

Press release

At Kerstin Engholm Gallery, Björn Dahlem shows six vitrines under the title „Focus Imaginarius (Aus fernen Welten)“. The vitrines remind us of the cabinets of curiosity of the late renaissance and baroque, in which rarities and curiosities from mostly faraway countries were assembled without scientific standard or considered classification system. Björn Dahlem’s artefacts make the observer wonder. They evoke amazement, a feeling that was suppressed by the ascent of rational explanatory models and soon only understood as awkward naivety. Dahlem’s poetic constructions made out of pebbles, gold varnish, flower vases and discarded measuring instruments resume with that the historic collections of ivory carvings, artistic clocks, ostrich eggs, crystals, astrolabes and unicorns, both formally and with regards to content. However, the visual metaphors used in the vitrines do not seem to refer to a specific historical period, nor to the present or the future of themselves. Other than earlier room occupying installations, the observer can no longer enter these secluded spaces. They are like a hermetic opponent, which is visible but atmospherically separated and seems enigmatic. The observer can devote himself completely to contemplation.

Björn Dahlem (born. 1974 in Munich) lives and works in Berlin.

Solo exhibitions inter alia at Kunst im Tunnel, Düsseldorf (2010), Kunstraum Innsbruck (2010), Fondazione Morra Greco, Neapel (2010), La Conservera, Centro de Arte Contemporáneo, Murcia, (2009), Galerie Guido W. Baudach, Berlin (2009), Hiromii Yoshii Gallery, Tokyo (2008), Galería Heinrich Ehrhardt, Madrid (2008), Alison Jacques Galerie, London (2008), Bregenzer Kunstverein (2007), Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin (2004), UCLA Hammer Museum, Los Angeles (2004), FRAC Paca, Marseille (2004), Friedrich Petzel Gallery, New York (2003), Kunstverein Hamburg (2002), Kunsthalle St. Gallen (2002), Kunstverein Freiburg (2002).
The extensive catalogue “Die Theorie des Himmels“ was published by Distanz Verlag in 2010.

For further information about the exhibition please contact Kerstin Engholm +43 1 585 7337.

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