Text: Aðalsteinn Ingólfsson listfræðingur, DV, 4. Sept. 2000
IMMENSITIES
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The installtion is relatively uncomplicated to look at; yet it´s subject matter is the universe, no less, or more properly the existing limits to our understanding of the universe, for as everyone knows it is impossible to say anything about it without taking into account its dimensionality.
The artist´s first step was to enter the new dimension of the Internet and send questions relating to the make-up of the Earth, its internal colour spectrum, its positioning within the universe and so on, to the specialists responsible for the University of Iceland´s popular science web site. Their concise answers form part of the artist´s bank of information and of the exhibition as well; this is possibly the first time the Internet has been harnessed in this way. At the same time the “dimensions” of the Internet, where the information in question came into being, enter into a dialogue with other dimensions which the artist endeavours to make visible in her work.
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But like most of Borghildur Óskarsdótir´s works, this installation has a poetic make-up which ultimately defies all attempts at describing it, let alone explaining it, because it centers on levels of feeling rather than a logical procedure or even a creative unraveling of logic. To conceive of the earth as a square and invite all and sundry to take up position at its centre; well, that´s probably within the limits of our understanding. But to turn the symbolically constructed earth into a collection of boxes, each one of them containing portions of immensity, as the artist does – the boxes are painted deep blue on the inside – making it possible to transport it in sections, is an unexpected poetic touch, what Joyce would probably have called an “epiphany”. I am reminded of the star that Hreinn Friðfinnsson created by the simple action of folding a blue piece of paper.
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