PARADISE SYNDROME
Edith Dekyndt
24 May – 20 July 2014
The Paradise Syndrome describes a mental state of dissatisfaction and depression that can symptomatically appear through the fulfilment of all desires of life. This mental and physical ambiguity in subjective perception and experience is at the centre of Edith Dekyndt’s work. Consisting of film, sound and sculptures, the installation is characterized by the interweaving of different contexts, histories, stories and places that provoke new images and associations beyond the physically perceptible. One of these places and narrative starting points is Cologne as medieval pilgrimage city, another the Italian Mediterranean island of Lampedusa–a touristic island of one’s dreams as well as a dream destination of African refugees on their way to the Europe. Both share collective and individual motivations and expectations towards an achievable earthly paradise. In the exhibition "Paradise Syndrome" Edith Dekyndt creates a situation in which subjective expectations and seemingly objective facts and things promising salvation are confronted with one another, and both are reflected back at the viewer.
Curator: Regina Barunke
PRESS MATERIAL
Funding and Support
Kunststiftung NRW
Kulturamt der Stadt Köln
RheinEnergie Stiftung Kultur
Deltax contemporary, Wirtschafts- und Steuerberatungsgesellschaft mbH
Hotel Chelsea
Images
1-2 — exhibition view
Photo: Simon Vogel
