EDGAR LESSIG

Eine Ewigkeit lang Ozeanblau / An Eternity of Ocean Blue

University of Arts Linz
22 June 2021 – 4 July 2021

In my degree show Eine Ewigkeit lang Ozeanblau / An Eternity of Ocean Blue at the University of Arts Linz an installation was shown in an otherwise empty room. 73 almost identical artist’s books were stacked on top of each other on a table-like sculpture. They contained 52 pages of dramatic text in German, 50 images of seemingly random two-digit numbers branded into a grainy surface, and the same dramatic text in English. Each book had a different two-digit number between 01 and 99 printed on the spine. In 12 chapters the dramatic text moves through the periodic and redundant gatherings of five people. For all their meetings they sit on and among countless ocean-blue, form-moulded chairs. One day one of the individuals decides to leave the group and the sedate calm of the previous meetings slowly starts to disappear. The characters’ deepest fears and staid longings begin to emerge. The small meeting room becomes a world, and the chairs a screen onto which it is projected. The text, the artist’s book, the installation and the exhibition all share the same name: Eine Ewigkeit lang Ozeanblau / An Eternity of Ocean Blue. The exhibition shots show the installation at the beginning and at the end of the show. During those two weeks the work was viewed in very different ways: it was examined from a distance, fingerprints were left on the table, the books were read, bent, stained, but also carefully touched. There were no instructions to do any of this.

Eine Ewigkeit lang Ozeanblau / An Eternity of Ocean Blue, Installation, 2021
73 books, stainless steel, MDF, steel, 4 pipe connectors
120 x 80 x 95 cm

Eine Ewigkeit lang Ozeanblau / An Eternity of Ocean Blue, Artist's Book, 2021
soft cover, glue binding, German, English, digitally and riso printed, b/w, 154 pages
ISBN 978-3-200-07695-2
21 x 12,5 cm
edition of 73 (+5 AP)