LIA KARL
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“We are
mind and
matter
at the same time
and float
like all the other
particles through
space.”
””#BODY #DIGITAL #ECOLOGY #PHOTOGRPAHY #VIDEO #INSTALLATION #LANGUAGE #SPACE
BIO. “I am fascinated by the idea of the invisible, the hardly perceptible, the in-between and parallel worlds. When it comes to space, be it real, imaginary or metaphysical, there is something beyond beginning and end, inside and outside, fullness and emptiness or darkness and light."
Lia Karl’s creative practice involves photography, video, happening and installation and deals within the realms of perception, collaboration, communication, environmental protection and cultures of sustainability. Since 2012 she is a co-founder of the art association See you next Thursday and co-curated the artspace Schneiderei.
Photo: © Lia Karl
Contingent horizon (2019)
HD-Underwater-Video 10’45’’ min, Loop
The underwater world is one of refracted and metamorphosed light as it travels through the density of water. This video work is an observation of the air-water-interface and part of a series of surface samples.
A great complexity lies in the threshold in between two things and it seems to speak to us, or like Jorge Luis Borges said: “[…] certain Twilights […] try to tell us something, or have said something we should not have missed, or are about to say something“.
Water is an essential element for me, I seek its closeness and power. Instead of looking into the water, I direct my gaze or that of the camera out of the water and onto the line between water and air. The refracted light and the vibrations between the worlds become visible and the possibility of silent observation arises. Hidden levels and subtle elements emerge, which could be a portal or a membrane between past and future.
Photo: © Lia Karl
Kit-Shi-O-Pe-A (2019)
Tape installation, dimensions variable
Cassiopeia is a clairvoyant and immortal character in the shape of a tortoise in the fantasy novel Momoby Michael Ende, as well as a constellation in the northern sky, circumpolar and named after a queen in Greek mythology. The term circumpolar refers to constellations and stars that are circling the north and south celestial poles without ever dipping below the horizon, they never disappear from view. The five brightest stars of Cassiopeia – Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, and Epsilon Cassiopeiae – form a characteristic W- or M-shaped asterism.
From the Series Lines that encode and decode conversations between artists and works. About a conversation between Jun’ichiro Ishii and Lia Karl, Sound / Space / Landscape "Ma (間) / in-between", in the frame of an exhibition collaboration in Higure 17-15 cas Gallery in Tokyo.
Homo Astralis (2019)
C-prints on flag material, 42 x 42 cm, multiple
Shot through color filter blue, bright blue, yellow, dark yellow, orange, red – stellar classification scheme OBAFGKM, (A hommage to Annie Jump Cannon)
The boundaries of our human habitat are expanding more and more into the cosmos. What is the world we are used to dominate as a species when we look into the sky and think about our place in the universe? In outer space, the human subject disappears. The lights we see in the sky are lights from the past. The universe consists only of a small part of matter and energy known to us, and little of it is visible to us. A larger part is Dark Matter and the largest part is Dark Energy, but these areas are still not yet understood. It is nature, but it is not the kind of nature that corresponds to our idea of cultivation, exploitation, and submission. How long can we maintain the refusal to relate to our environment, when will we evolve from Homo sapiens to Homo astralis? We have made another world out of this planet and the final frontiers are falling.