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In the work Again and Again (The Borderer) Bjørn Melhus
explores the horrific vision of cloned people and the infinite
multiplicity of the individual. Like all acting figures in his
films and videos, this one is also embodied by the artist himself.
To the heartbeat rhythm of the background music
the figure of a seemingly sexless young man copies itself. In
love with himself and thrilled with the copies of his own self
the figure repeatedly produces new lookalikes. The clones created
are more than simply perfect. Unlike identical clones they differ
from the original, morph to a new, apparently improved species
that consists of pure surface. The front and back sides of the
new figures are completely identical. The total disintegration
of the identity through the creation of a two-dimensional transfer
is commented on in the video with the words "it’s fabulous".
Superficiality becomes an improvement, identity is lost in multiple
figures. Thus the original has outlived its purpose, becomes superfluous,
and is ultimately displaced by the new, improved copies.
An important aspect of the work is conveyed
via the soundtrack. Melhus employs in his works existing material
taken from films and television. For Again and Again the soundtrack
and dialogs of a US program advertising jewelry served him as
a starting point. In an ironic touch, he links the promotional
catchwords and eulogies with the horrific scenario of people devoid
of identity. The existing sound material is newly combined, sentences,
snippets of sentences and words are wrested from their original
context and rearranged, the narrative structure is broken up until
there is ultimately no overall sense. There is no longer any real
communication between the acting figures; they only exchange meaningless
phrases.Melhus belongs to a generation that grew up with the medium
of television, and TV provides him with his sources, models and
ideals. In his works he copies the icons of the mass media, and
explores the influence of the medial world on our reality.
[ click on thumbnail to view detail ]
born 1966 in Kirchheim/Teck, lives and works in Hannover and Berlin,
Solo exhibitions: 2001 Primetime Kunstverein Hannover, Limboland
(film-video-retrospective) a.o. Goethe Institut Los Angeles, Goethe
Institut Toronto, Babylon Berlin, Caligari Wiesbaden; 2000 Again
& Again (The Borderer) Galerie Birner & Wittmann, Nürnberg;
Gute Freunde (Good Friends) Museum Schloss Hardenberg, Velbert,
Kunstverein Wolfenbüttel; 1999 ich bin du (me is you) Skulpturenmuseum
Glaskasten, Marl, Primetime vol.1, Galerie Anita Beckers, Frankfurt;
Group exhibitions (selection): 2000 reality checkpoint –
körperszenarien/body scenarios Edith-Ruß-Haus, Oldenburg;
1998/99 8. Marler-Video-Kunstpreis a.o. Neuer Berliner Kunstverein,
Neues Museum Weserburg, Kunstverein Braunschweig; 1996 German
Video Art Metropolitan Museum of Contemporary Photography, Tokyo
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