Cosmic dropout

Josefine Lyche, Garden of Time, 2007, installation, various materials.

Josefine Lyche, Cosmic dropout, 2007, installation, various materials.

Josefine Lyche, Cosmic dropout, 2007, installation, various materials.

Josefine Lyche, Noon universe, 2007, installation, various materials.

The crystals geometric structure is represented in the text works Propositions of Incidence and Untitled (Dimensions), a poetical description of the terms space, plane, line, point and nothing
copied from an anthropological book about geometry.

The work Hopes and Dreams is a homage to the work Contained Hopes and Dreams of the Workers as They Walked Home From the Bar (2004/2005) by the English artist Liam Gillick.
The glitter spread out on the gallery floor will stick to the shoes of the visitors and then consequently be spread around the space at 0047 OSLO.

The Garden of Time (Liberace) consists of big glass diamonds mounted onto rotating bases. The title points to the American entertainer Liberace, who wore gigantic diamond rings on his fingers and made sure to direct the spotlights on stage so that they hit the rings in the best possible way. The result was an optimal sparkling and shimmering that was characteristic of Liberace’s style.

Dreamachine – 2007 is a version of the “Dreamachine” originally conceived by artist and writer Brion Gysin along with his friend Ian Sommerville in the early sixties. The Dreamachine – 2007 is meant to be viewed with eyes closed. The pulsating light stimulates the optical nerve and alters the brain’s electrical oscillations, causing very bright vivid visions of moving and morphing colours in geometrical patterns appearing “projected” behind the eyelids. A long time in front of Dreamachine – 2007 can push the experience further, altering the perception of time and space and provoking a dream-like state. (Beware: To interrupt the experience, simply open your eyes.)

Noon Universe. The work consists of 500 crystal prisms hanging from the ceiling. The prisms are illuminated, so that the walls around are lit up by the reflections from the prisms, as well as rainbows that appear from the refraction of light. The work takes its title from Arkady and Boris Strugatskys fiction, a universe known as the The World of Noon. Among the main characteristics of Noon Universe are a very high level of social, scientific and technological development, high creativity of the general population, and very significant increases in the level of societal maturity compared to either the modern world or any of those known to exist. The work is also inspired by the idea that the crystal mirrors utopian ideality and purity – a new and improved image of the world. In J.G. Ballards novel The Crystal World, the African jungle is contaminated with a virus that turns everything into crystal. The jungle is covered in prisms and is frozen in a timeless state, a perpetual Nirvana.

Josefine Lyche has established herself as one of few Norwegian artists working in large scale, specifically incorporating architecture in her works. She has done a number of private and public commissions and taken in a number of exhibitions. She took part in Carnegie Awards 2006 and she recently had a solo show at Trafo in Asker.

The exhibition is kindly supported by The Arts Council Norway.

For further information: www.josefinelyche.com and www.gallerimgm.com