“Bits of the Venice Biennale and Silk Road in Lund”
November 23, 2020
The photo above is a snapshot of one of my studio/exhibition rooms – the one which also contains a 1200-volume peace library in the middle of the room plus small things from around the world – such as salt from where Gandhi ended his Salt March, bits of the Berlin Wall, handicraft from Iran and so on.
It’s on the first floor of our house at a quiet street of Lund in southern Sweden, some 90 square meters. Visitors tell me it’s more like a home than a gallery. That makes me very happy.
But these days, few can visit. The Coronavirus hit my part of the world in March this year, it has changed our lives and society and certainly also the art world.
Consequently, I want this art home to offer you an online experience – rich but not complicated to move around in – that resembles as much as possible your ‘live’ visit.
🔷
👁️ Exhibition 25
“Bits of the Venice Biennale and Silk Road in Lund”
This exhibition opened on The Night of Culture in Lund, September 21, 2019 – also International Peace Day – at my studio. On display are the photos and collages that sit in the SPAR Installation in Venice – see SPAR Exhibition Part 1 below. It ended in August 2020.
In addition to those images I show, for the first time, some of the photos I took in China in 1983 – see them in the China 1983 Portfolio and in their Shop. Find them on the walls in SPAR Exhibition Part 2 below.
Now it’s time to walk around this exhibition. Two pieces of information before you do:
a) The SPAR Installation has four panels and shall be read from right to left. It starts in China, China 1983 an 2018, and moves westwards along the Silk Road, the Belt & Road Initiative (BRI). On your way you see images/collages from Iran, Kazakhstan, Somalia and Somaliland, Burma 1983 (Myanmar), Iraq and the war in Syria (Aleppo) – and, finally, the peaceful creative West – Venice – at the bottom of the left, fourth panel. This was also exactly the way it was shown in my studio.
So the installation moves
- from the right/Orient towards the left/Occident (West);
- from the new world order toward the old, declining one;
- from the future toward the past;
- from peace towards war and
- from lightness to darkness.
Of course, the West is not only darkness, war and militarism but these two phenomena are, in my view, major reasons why the West (the US/NATO/EU) is declining and losing both innovative strength and vision. So, the ‘good’ West with all it’s given the world – I let the image from Venice illustrate that – also because the SPAR was first shown in Venice.
b) In online exhibitions, the point is to try to give you, the visitor, a sense of being there in a physical art space. The works sit on a rough-surface wall like in a Venezian palace or an old warehouse in London. And like in a real exhibition room, nothing moves; you dwell for as long as you like at each work – and press “More” when you want to get more information about it – and press the arrows to go to the next work.
To view SPAR the right way, begin by clicking the right-hand arrows.
When you’ve seen this virtual show, you can learn more about these and similar works in the SPAR Portfolio and SPAR Shop.
Enjoy!
SPAR Exhibition Part 1 – Works in the installation
Learn more about these and similar works in the SPAR Portfolio and SPAR Shop. Here is all about the Silk Peace Art Road project and how it was created.
SPAR Exhibition Part 2 – China 1983
As mentioned above, the second part of the exhibition consists of a series of photos I took in China in 1983 that have been digitalised. It’s the first time I put them on show. You may see more about them in the China 1983 Portfolio and their Shop.
But, first, walk around the exhibition…
All these unique, historical works from a China long gone are available in the China 1983 Shop. Perhaps you really like one of them or need a present?
There are many more in the China 1983 Portfolio with bits and pieces of history and how they were created. Write to jan@obergphotographics.com in case you want one that is not in the shop and we shall find a solution.
Finally, I happen to also have shot a short video of the exhibition – a quick guided tour where it is more difficult to dwell…