John Duncan The Gauntlet

Separatutställning (installation)

En installation i mörker. Om perception, utsatthet och seende.

Darkness is silence.

It’s concentration.

The absence of perception before your eyes forces you to rethink the way you see. The way you are. You are forced to adapt your entire body and start finding ways to look with other senses. With your body, with your ears, hands and even with your smell. You have to start trusting the darkness to be able to relax to the point where your eyes adjust and relax and start seeing again.

And at that exact moment, at that exact moment in time when you relax enough to trust, you are the most vulnerable. And vulnerability is why darkness is mankind’s worst fear. It’s because you have too let go and find other ways to be present. It’s because you have too let go and loose control. You have too let go and to start trusting what you can’t see and therefore become painfully aware of your presence, your limitations, your smallness and your exposure.

But loosing control is also a way to advance into a state of mind. A state of almost perfect concentration witch jump-starts your other senses. And after waiting and trusting, you actually start looking. Really looking. And searching. And in the darkness there is always something to look for, always something to find.

Only when standing in a pitch-dark room you realize that you actually start to see. Even in the perfect darkness there is always some kind of light.

A special thanks to Ellen Sundh, programming and electronics.

A limited edition catalogue is produced for the exhibition by 1:2:3 in collaboration with Gallery Niklas Bellenius.