On Frozen Time and Differing Spaces

Nov. RothStauffenberg | Feb. Jonas Dahlberg | May Micol Assaël | Sept. Tris Vonna-Michell

Mark Z. Danielewski’s book House of Leaves begins with the measuring of a house that ends up being larger in the inside than on the outside. As often as its inhabitants re-measure it, it always remains the same. From Sebastian Brant’s Ship of Fools to Jorge Luis Borges’ The Library of Babel; from Douglas Cooper’s Amnesia to Piranesi’s endless corridors and hallways – the fantasy of the secluded, total inner-space gives birth to a world, very similar to the one we know but yet significantly different: As if seen upside down through a camera obscura.

Four of the most interesting artists in Europe have been commissioned to create productions in situ throughout the following twelve months. Adina Popescu has invited the artists RothStauffenberg, Jonas Dahlberg, Micol Assaël and Tris Vonna-Michell to work on productions in situ at Nyehaus’ gallery and former Library at The National Arts Club in Gramercy Park. This project leads toward the total transformation of the space into THE HOUSE.

The consecutive four productions constitute the notion of an endlessly reformulated place, herein known as THE HOUSE. The artists are all involved in the mission of re-interpreting our understanding of material: including the architecture of the given space and its components. By doing this, the mere process of production is brought to the center of attention again.

“A Ship is the ultimate Heterotopia”, comments Foucault on the notion of “les-contre-espaces” (counter-spaces). He considered these as being specific types of spaces that relate to any other space within a given culture by inversing, suspending or neutralizing their predominant conditions. In contrast to Utopias, which are non-existent hypothetical spaces, Heterotopias exist as real spaces within society. We like to think of Art as this counter space, a Heterotopia in which the notion of what could be possible can be extended and realized within the actual material–ad infinitum.

—Adina Popescu