Ebba Matz, 8 minutes 20 seconds, installation, 24 August–30 September 2017
Cecilia Hillström Gallery is proud to present Ebba Matz’s second solo show at the gallery. In the new exhibition, the foundation for Matz’s installation is that of a sculptor and creator of space, both inner and outer. Themes of micro and macro perspectives present themselves in various objects. Matz makes us look at what many of us want to avoid; space and our place in it. An interstellar vertigo seen from different angles. We are luckily glued to this earth by gravity, and the meticulous works are something physical to hold on to, although the viewer is made unsure and somewhat unsettled.
The sculpture 8 minutes 20 seconds, which also lends its name to the exhibition, contains black glass spheres symbolizing the planets and the sun. Here, we as viewers get to look at ourselves from the outside, and see the whole system as if we were somehow the creators of this ungraspable system of space. The title refers to the time, based on the speed of light, it would take us to realize that the sun has shut down. The exhibition transforms the gallery into a down-scaled model of the universe. A sculpture in the shape of a monocular makes objects appear smaller; the more we look, the less we see. Bereft of content: two blank globes except for poetic texts, the words overriding the geology, mind over matter.
The fear of cosmic disasters is evident in the prints presented in the exhibition, depicting broken glass, a representation of the huge meteorite impact which created the lake Siljan some 377 million years ago. They can be read as means of artistic cognitive behavioural therapy; Matz’s childhood fear of another meteorite crashing into the earth approached with the help of exposure. Materia, making the invisible visible. 8 minutes 20 seconds is about recreating systems too extraordinary to grasp, yet giving in to the yearning of understanding our position and the foundation for everything.
Read the exhibition text by Sara Walker here.
Cecilia Hillström Gallery is proud to present Ebba Matz’s second solo show at the gallery. In the new exhibition, the foundation for Matz’s installation is that of a sculptor and creator of space, both inner and outer. Themes of micro and macro perspectives present themselves in various objects. Matz makes us look at what many of us want to avoid; space and our place in it. An interstellar vertigo seen from different angles. We are luckily glued to this earth by gravity, and the meticulous works are something physical to hold on to, although the viewer is made unsure and somewhat unsettled.
The sculpture 8 minutes 20 seconds, which also lends its name to the exhibition, contains black glass spheres symbolizing the planets and the sun. Here, we as viewers get to look at ourselves from the outside, and see the whole system as if we were somehow the creators of this ungraspable system of space. The title refers to the time, based on the speed of light, it would take us to realize that the sun has shut down. The exhibition transforms the gallery into a down-scaled model of the universe. A sculpture in the shape of a monocular makes objects appear smaller; the more we look, the less we see. Bereft of content: two blank globes except for poetic texts, the words overriding the geology, mind over matter.
The fear of cosmic disasters is evident in the prints presented in the exhibition, depicting broken glass, a representation of the huge meteorite impact which created the lake Siljan some 377 million years ago. They can be read as means of artistic cognitive behavioural therapy; Matz’s childhood fear of another meteorite crashing into the earth approached with the help of exposure. Materia, making the invisible visible. 8 minutes 20 seconds is about recreating systems too extraordinary to grasp, yet giving in to the yearning of understanding our position and the foundation for everything.
Read the exhibition text by Sara Walker here.
Installation view, Ebba Matz, 8 minutes 20 seconds, 2017, photo: Jean-Baptiste Beranger
Installation view, Ebba Matz, 8 minutes 20 seconds, 2017, photo: Jean-Baptiste Beranger
Installation view, Ebba Matz, 8 minutes 20 seconds, 2017, photo: Jean-Baptiste Beranger
Installation view, Ebba Matz, 8 minutes 20 seconds, 2017, photo: Jean-Baptiste Beranger