‘Knowledge is Everything”, so claims the title of the exhibition by Liam Morgan and Jan Krogsgaard at Speedy Grandma Gallery.
‘Knowledge is Everything’ at Speedy Grandma.
Morgan and Krogsgaard have the knowledge of what it means to have lived in two cultures, to navigate between them. They each moved to Southeast Asia over a decade ago. Morgan is from Canada and now based in Bangkok, and Krogsgaard is from Denmark and now based in Vietnam.
The exhibition room is dark, lit by projections at both ends of the space. The projected images on the discs constantly evolve, reminiscent of Petri dishes filled with microscopic organisms or the rough surface of the Moon. The discs create shadows on both walls, like eclipses of the sun. The projectors sit in the centre, with IV tubes hanging loosely from the ceiling, connecting a few bags of saline solution to a tray filled with liquid on the projector. Once in a while, an automated water pump comes on and alters the composition on the trays. Once in a while, music composed by Krogsgaard comes on in the background.
“It’s half an experimental film, half installation work. It draws things from both media,” says Morgan. “Jan and I approached it as if we’re making a film as we both come from filmmaking backgrounds.”
There are no pre-recorded visuals and no use of films. The two artists use the approach of taking little aspects affiliated to the main concept and “editing” them together to form a complete whole.
“The experience in the dark room is meditative; there is no description to explain the concept. It is meant to provoke contemplation. The knowledge of [the concept behind] ‘Knowledge is Everything’ isn’t necessary,” Morgan explains.
The fact that conceptual artists ultimately have no influence over the viewers’ interpretations of the finished piece of art corresponds to Morgan and Krogsgaard’s concept that cultural elements dictate a person’s worldview. “There is no objective reality,” as Morgan states. Different people comprehend the same things in different ways based on their habitual environments.
The title guides viewers to interpret the concept mediated by materiality, by physical space, by the timing of the process.
“We started talking about what it means to have a worldview defined by the culture that you were born in. When you take on a second culture, you take on a second perspective of the world,” Morgan says. Subjective experience translates into knowledge.
Morgan and Krogsgaard view knowledge as qualitative, not quantitative. “You can take the phrase ‘knowledge is everything’ to mean ‘knowledge is important’, but that isn’t what we’re talking about here,” says Morgan. “When you say ‘knowledge is important’, you’re talking about people who have knowledge and people who don’t, meaning that knowledge is countable by how much there is: some people have more and some people have less. So in that case that phrase comes to mean knowledge is important, and if you don’t have it, you don’t have it.”
Their concept boils down to knowledge gained through experience, through circumstances beyond our own control, where we were born, to whom, and how we were raised. This knowledge is acquired by chance — it cannot be planned.
“Because of that, most of what’s happening inside here is random. The saline droplets and the air pumps change what you see on the screen. We don’t have very much control over any specific composition at any time over the period of three weeks,” says Morgan.
The liquid in the tray gets heated up because of the lamp, resulting in bubbles and steam. Sometimes, the water evaporates, leaving crusts of salt stuck to other components floating on the tray. These changes are hardly noticeable to inattentive eyes.The use of bags of saline solution gives the installation a medical and sterile feel, but Morgan explains that it is a commendation of care.
“Care in terms of considering how your perspective of the world could be foreign, and being aware of why you think the way you do,” he says. “Those who have had the chance to live in two or more different cultures can more easily grasp the construed nature of cultural perspective. When you can see things from both sides, you see that they are kind of opposed to each other. You can see that they are just things that people make up and there aren’t any reasons why they are like that.”
The film, as Morgan calls it, itself is produced simultaneously as it is shown. Beyond the construction of the installation. Everything is left to chance, to the arbitrary flow of water symbolising the flow of knowledge.
Morgan and Krogsgaard are also working on another exhibition in Phnom Penh, “The River & Surf Paintings”, continuing their interest in the random effects created by water, by letting the flow of the river mark the canvas and documenting the process.
“Knowledge Is Everything” is exhibited at Speedy Grandma gallery from today until March 2. Other related works are exhibited in the lobby. Opening hours: Tuesday — Sunday 11am to 7pm. Visit www.facebook.com/speedygrandma
Artist Liam Morgan and his work, Bangkok: IX (of XII) Possible Compositions.
