Nirvana? Oh no, I was thinking about the Beatles. Yesterday. Horrible song, I can barely listen to it. Anyways, this one line is haunting me for ages. But I guess I‘m an easy victim.
– from Larissa Leverenz/Monika Pichler (Eds.), Doppelspiel. Exhibition catalogue. Linz/Wien 2015.
Half The Man I Used To Be and The Other Side are part of a series of sculptures that have their origin in thought experiments but nevertheless always remain objects. The decomposition or the multiplication of the human body contrasts the familiar with the impossible - but how can something be called impossible if it stands right in front of you?
It does not make any sense to search for hidden meanings. The secret lies on the surface.
Photos © die Angewandte (1) / Jan Svenungsson (2) / Jari Genser (3)
Photos © Andrew Phelps (1) / die Angewandte (2,3,4)
Or do you not think so far
Ahead?
Cause I‘ve been thinkin bout forever
– Frank Ocean, Thinkin bout you (2012)
Thinkin Bout You takes the idea of Half the Man I Used To Be and turns it around: Instead of half a person we see two in one, with the head being the only part they share. Who is thinking about whom here?
A thought experiment. But that‘s not all.