LENA SÉRAPHINInstallation 1.10.2005 – 23.10.2005
The starting point for the works Dom e nån annans vänner (They are somebody else's friends) and Jag vill köra dig hem (I want to drive you home) has been my experience in an aquarium, an artificial world created by the so-called experience industry. Spending my vacation time in this paradisiacal environment surrounded by small, dense groups of moving guests instilled within me an increasingly powerful feeling of togetherness. Being separated from one ' s own group was fateful: the sense of belonging turned to one of being an outsider. In this work, as well as in my other artistic endeavours, I have also treated the theme as an interactive process through which we strengthen the impressions of ourselves and the world that surrounds us.
In my earlier works I have used images as a narrative device. Rik, respekterad och död (Rich, respected and dead) , presented at the Amos Anderson Art Museum in 2004, was based on still and kinetic images separated by a narrative distance that formed a new dimension for the work, which portrayed the information obtained in reality as a splintered entity that is constantly being reshaped.
Using the artistic means at my disposal, I will continue to investigate the problematics - and through this also direct the nature of the interaction between the work and the viewer - set up by the works. The works presented at the Gallery Heino can also be considered as falling within the scope of different artistic disciplines; they are space-driven installations as well as part of an expanded concept of the photograph. In this work that dominates the entire space, the still images taken in an aquarium and their reflected lights form a certain kind of stage, a so-called tableau vivant , whose purpose is to provide space for the viewers ' own experiences as they move throughout the work.
Lena Séraphin