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BJÖRN DAHLEM The Homunculus Saloon
Opening: 19/01/2006, 7 p.m. Duration
of the exhibition: 20/01/2006 - 15/03/2006
Press release
The Homunculus Saloon in Björn Dahlem’s installation
represents an utopian place where the search for meaning and the construction
of an ideal identity can be explored. The symbol of this investigation
is the settler who like the artist himself consistently tries to advance
into new worlds. The Homunculus, an artificial little person, works
as a metaphor for the ongoing process of giving meaning to the world
and constructing identity, and the Homunculus Saloon seems to be the
place where answers and solutions can come into being. It might be
the place where the great western classic of the Big Rock Candy Mountain,
a hobo’s paradise, can become true. Where liquor is dripping off the rock, where
the sheriffs have peg legs and their dogs have rubber teeth, and where
the inventor of work has been hung in the clink. It might be a place
for the perfect state of the hyper-psyche where all inconsistencies
dissolve and the Übermensch dozes off peacefully.
Dahlem’s works evolve
from his preoccupation with scientific models, images and theories
ranging from the black hole to the uncertainty principle. Based on
his substantiated but playful research, he transfers his results into
extraordinary sculptural and architectural constructions. Dahlem exceeds
into a world beyond physical models and philosophical thought experiments,
he questions and subjectifies any concept of science and rational
truth. The apparently objective scientific explanations are put down
to a narrative approach to existential questions.
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