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Mike Nelson (b. 1967) is one of the most appreciated
artists of his generation. His work predominantly features sculpture
and meticulously constructed, large-scale architectural installations.
In this new work created for Malmö Konsthall, Nelson uses the
institutional architecture as a backdrop for a massive concrete workshop.
The exhibition space is divided by a glass wall into two spaces; a smaller
production workshop and an exhibition space stripped back to its original
configuration.
The production workshop will be used to cast
several thousand concrete blocks, which are to be laid out across the
floor, a lattice work cast like a net across the remaining area of the
exhibition space. The 408 tons of cast concrete blocks will be carried out
and placed on the floor in a geometric pattern, a minimal form that is
evocative of early decorative designs, widely used within many
religious and comparative belief systems. Nelson is interested in
making the process transparent, emphasizing what is actually
there; 408 tons of imperfect geometry within the architecture of
Malmö Konsthall. The visibility of the workshop and the process of
casting, which will continue on after the opening, reiterate this desire
for clarity. The tonnage has been calculated in relation to the load
bearing of the wooden floor, taking into account the weight of
the concrete structure combined with the weight of the potential
visitors.
The meaning of this work is neither prescribed nor
didactic. However the sense of weight and the suggested ideologies of the
cast, existing upon and within the late modernist design of
Malmö Konsthall, are intended to affect us viscerally as well as
intellectually. The mesmeric perspective of the repeating pattern
induces a meditative, introspective state to invoke an understanding in a
more 'felt' manner, one that incorporates the political into the
phenomenological.
This sea of cast concrete at Malmö
Konsthall is a new work by Mike Nelson, that recollects his early
works such as Untitled (1991); Cast concrete wall in
context (1992); Cast Kufic script from the khulufa mosque
built by m. Makiya in 1960-63 (1993) and A staging of the
reconstruction of the southern palace of Babylon (1993). The work
reconnects with a foundation of more minimal works, throwing light on
some unanswered aspects of Nelson's highly acclaimed artistic path.
For the last two decades Nelson has created works, installations
and spaces that we, as an audience are fascinated by. His installations can
be compared with stage sets; however computer game structures or tombs
could be deemed more appropriate. Here there are hidden doors to
literature, corridors under tons of concrete, rooms with sacred voodoo
shrines and labyrinthine walks so unresolved that their absurdity can only
be compared with those experienced in dreams.
Mike Nelson (born
in Loughborough, England) lives and works in London. Nelson represented
Britain at the Venice Biennale in 2011 and his work has been
presented in major group and solo exhibitions throughout the
world: Off-site project A Psychic Vacuum, Creative Time,
New York 2007; Tate Triennial 2009; Psycho Buildings at the
Hayward Gallery 2008; September 11 at MoMA PS1, 2011, and at various
biennales (Venice 2001, Sydney 2002, Istanbul 2003, São Paulo
2004, Singapore 2011).
Mike Nelson is represented by 303
Gallery, New York; Galleria Franco Noero, Turin; Matt's Gallery, London and
neugerriemschneider, Berlin.
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