The exhibition borrows its title from an early 19th century fable about a youngster who sells his shadow to the devil in exchange for a magic purse of infinite riches. Schlemihl comes to deeply regret the pact: what he hadn’t realized was that renouncing his own shadow inevitably means being deprived of his very identity.
Exhibition brings into focus things we take for granted and overlook until something fundamental changes. Exhibition in Galerie Pleiku is site-specific installation that exploits the workings of shadows as transient perceptual phenomena. The installation acts together with the viewer’s presence; shadows become translucent, objects seem to lose volume and painting fluctuates on the verge of visibility.
A shadow is never only an absence of light, but proof of presence. The exhibition draws attention to the phenomenology of shadow, but moreover, it makes palpable the fact that deprived of the presence of its audience, the artwork itself changes in identity. Without the physical intervention of the viewer’s own shadow, parts of Peter Schlemihl’s Shadow remain invisible.
Acrylic transfer and acrylic on canvas (220 x 240 cm), programmed LED light
Object (modelling mass, copper, acrylic colour), programmed LED light.
Acrylic on canvas, found object and its shadow, viewer’s cast shadow, LED light.