LET’S MELT
October 16th & 18th
On Friday the 18th of October at 6pm, Ingeborg Paulsrud will discuss her artistic and research practice at ΎΛΗ[matter]HYLE. Ingeborg combines painting with performance in an attempt to interrogate the process of subjectivation in a society where affectivity is regulating by proliferating layers of mediation. Ingeborg is going to present her long-term research project Stay Safe, Avoid Human Contact and its most recent realization Lets Melt that is exhibited in ΎΛΗ[matter]HYLE.
“When a material melts it leaves its original form and starts existing with a new set of prerequisites. We use this method frequently in order to re-shape materials and to change their purposes. This is not just a change, but also a transformation into something different than it was. In some cases the change is reversible. If you melt ice, you get water. Water can turn back into ice if given the right possibilities.
Common to all transformations is that they require time and some sort of change of surroundings. Even if melting is scientifically categorized as a reversible change we use the term meltdown for malfunctions, system collapses and mental breakdowns. Maybe this is because in all of those cases there exists an inbuilt desire to repair the damage. The important question is; do we restore or do we improve?
In the show Let’s Melt the artist explores the balance between re-shaping personalities and having a breakdown. When a material is melted it becomes more moldable. It also loses its original form. Is it damaging or evolutionary? Can this be applied to human personalities?
These questions are adressed within the frames of femininity as a social context. If living outside of the desired norm causes trouble, why not try to live within it? If the gain is as big as the loss, is it really that big of a deal?
This exhibition explores the relationship and struggle between the artist and the persona she created to be a positive extension of herself in order to handle conflicts and patriarchal structures with the main goal to solve all conflicts, no matter how. The persona, Pam, is in one way a patriarchal pleaser but also the more socially constructive one of them. If you ask Pam what she associates with melting, she will answer the sugar you use to make lemonade when life hands you lemons for free.The exhibition will show works related to loneliness and - personal confessions as a juxtaposition to how well we fit into the social framework given to us. What do we measure ourselves against? When a cultural phenomenon like reality-TV is commonly consumed, do we apply its social contests to our own lives and the way we encounter each other? Without realizing it, we might have gone from co-existing to fusing with this alternative reality.” Ingeborg Paulsrud, Athens 2019.
The event will take place on Friday, the 18th of October at ΎΛΗ[matter]HYLE at 18:00. Address Pireos Street 1, 2nd Floor #7.
http://www.ingeborgpaulsrud.com/
