Katrin Sigurdardóttir’s solo show at Galeria Leme consists in one monumental work, which employs the full 1.600 square feet of the main gallery, a building by the renowned Brazilian architect Paulo Mendes da Rocha.
In Coulisse, Sigurdardóttir continues her studies in the implications of extreme scale relations. This time, though, it is not the scenary, but the audience that is dwarfed next to the imposing height of the installation.
The piece, like many of her previous works, employs concepts, methods and structures borrowed from the world of theater. Full-size scenographic flats, depicting an unidentified mountainous landscape, are stacked up to form a gigantic pyre. The viewer not only faces a spectacular illusion of the scenic painting, but also an austere structure that makes this illusion tangible.
Galeria Leme is thus transformed into a warped coulisse, a stage without the necessary counterpart of the auditorium. It draws attention to the viewer as performer: the one who comes from the back-stage and the one that is doomed to the depth of the flat panels.
Katrin Sigurdardottir was born in Reykjavik, Iceland, in 1967. She lives in New York and Reykjavik. Her most recent solo exhibitions include PS1 Contemporary Art Center, in New York, Fonds Régional d’Art Contemporain de Bourgogne in France and Gallerí i8 in Reykjavík. Upcoming shows include a public commission at Harvard University, USA, Modem, Space for Contemporary Art, Berlín and SMAK, Museum of Contemporary Art, Ghent, Belgium.