TEN DAYS WITH AN EXORCIST
LINE KALLMAYER
Exhibition & book release
Ten Days with an Exorcist is based on Kallmayer’s research in Rome 2011-2012.
It is the first time the work is presented in Denmark and is particularly selected for the exhibition at GREEN IS GOLD. The exhibition consists of a art publication, a video piece and a projection of stills accompanied by sound.
The subject of exorcism is mostly shrouded in mystery, loaded with filmic references and preconceptions. It is a sacrament, a sacred rite, and an act. Some call it nonsense and superstition whilst others take it very seriously. Many people are afraid to talk about it even within the Catholic Church. Yet still the Vatican are training more exorcists than ever before. Line Kallmayer sets out to investigate the phenomenon. Through her encounter with one of the Catholic Church’s most influential exorcists, she examines the blurred boundaries between different perspectives on reality. Based on extensive textual, photographic- and video material, the exhibition is a portrayal of a human being, a role and an account of a meeting.
Line Kallmayer (b. 1976, Dk) is a graduate from Goldsmiths College London and The Polish National Film School. She has previously exhibited in e.g. Italy, England and Japan, but Ten Days with an Exorcist is her first solo show in Copenhagen. Her practice unfolds in an interdisciplinary field, where photography, video and text are integrated by methods derived from ethnography and visual anthropology. Her work explores perception and experience and uses storytelling as a tool to examine means of grasping and understanding. The show at GREEN IS GOLD is a continuation of her previous explorations.
Exhibition & book release
Ten Days with an Exorcist is based on Kallmayer’s research in Rome 2011-2012.
It is the first time the work is presented in Denmark and is particularly selected for the exhibition at GREEN IS GOLD. The exhibition consists of a art publication, a video piece and a projection of stills accompanied by sound.
The subject of exorcism is mostly shrouded in mystery, loaded with filmic references and preconceptions. It is a sacrament, a sacred rite, and an act. Some call it nonsense and superstition whilst others take it very seriously. Many people are afraid to talk about it even within the Catholic Church. Yet still the Vatican are training more exorcists than ever before. Line Kallmayer sets out to investigate the phenomenon. Through her encounter with one of the Catholic Church’s most influential exorcists, she examines the blurred boundaries between different perspectives on reality. Based on extensive textual, photographic- and video material, the exhibition is a portrayal of a human being, a role and an account of a meeting.
Line Kallmayer (b. 1976, Dk) is a graduate from Goldsmiths College London and The Polish National Film School. She has previously exhibited in e.g. Italy, England and Japan, but Ten Days with an Exorcist is her first solo show in Copenhagen. Her practice unfolds in an interdisciplinary field, where photography, video and text are integrated by methods derived from ethnography and visual anthropology. Her work explores perception and experience and uses storytelling as a tool to examine means of grasping and understanding. The show at GREEN IS GOLD is a continuation of her previous explorations.
Artist talk with Line Kallmayer Wednesday 22th May from 17:00-19:00
Kallmayer will read from her book TEN DAYS WITH AN EXORCIST, part of her exhibition at GREEN IS GOLD. The exhibition and book is based on the artist’s encounter with a Catholic exorcist in Rome, Christmas 2011, and chronicles their meetings and walks through the streets of the ancient city. It is a portrayal of a human being, a role and an investigation of what we call reality.
“Dear Drew, I have seen him. Sitting in a mellow basement room with translucent curtains drawn in front of double windowed doors leading to an outside terrace. In front of him is a great, shiny black grand piano that he does not touch. He has no stool. He is positioned on the carpeted floor with his back turned to me. Next to him, there is an animal of some sort. It may be a dog. I notice his legs. They are not right. They are non-functional pieces of human tissue pointing in opposite directions like exposed beams. Twisted, you know, as if he is doing the splits. His legs must be numb, passive. His gaze is downwards. The piano is open, but no one is playing it. He is lean, short with grey hair and strongly built. Sixty to seventy years old, I would guess. His eyes. They are black. He wears white or light clothes, light summer clothes. I am standing at the open doorway, observing him, and he knows I am there. He sees me. He sends me thoughts. He wants me to do something for him. Something unbearable. Every time the thought enters me, I levitate from the ground and feel the power of his temptation; his will, my will. When I let him. When I accept. But I fight it. I fight and every time, I slowly come back to the ground, slowly. It goes on for a while. I don’t know why it is so hard to resist, I know how wrong it is. I still cannot conceive of the terror of what he is proposing.”
The exhibition is kindly sponsored by the Danish Arts Council Committee for Visual Arts & MONTANA.
Press:
May 2013: Interview by Torben Zenth with Line Kallmayer on Kopenhagen Magasin
June 2013: Review by Karen Benedicte Busk-Jepsen on Turn On Art
June 2013: Review by Karen Benedicte Busk-Jepsen on Turn On Art
Photographs: Line Kallmayer.
