18 % Gray

2008, 0047 Oslo

The project took its point of departure in the history of the Belgian scientist Paul Otlet’s Mundaneum - an archive that was meant to contain all the world’s knowledge. The project deals with archives, documentation and how the medium of photography has influenced the narrative of modern art. The main work is an abstracted version of Le Corbusier’s sketch for the main building of Paul Otlet’s unrealized project the World City in Belgium, 1927. The sculpture is built with a large amount of white tubes, resembling a honeycomb filter on studio lamps, which makes the sculpture change its degree of transparency according to the viewer’s position. Another sculpture in the exhibition is a remake of Eileen Gray’s lacquer screen. Johnslien’s version is painted in 18% gray, which is the same tint as the photographic grey card, making the sculpture the perfect object to photograph. The installation is accompanied by the book Inediti, a handmade artist’s book in 60 copies.

Photo: Marte Johnslien. All text and image © Marte Johnslien