31 October – 29 November 2014
In the show Animation Syntax Jesper Carlsen works – through animation – with our understanding of objects. Human perception of the spatial is on the agenda in Carlsen’s works. We experience our own reality chronologically, and Carlsen works through animation to clarify time as a crucial factor in our way of understanding. Meaning is created for us in the form of sequences, and smaller sequences can be created precisely by means of animation. Carlsen thus tries in his works to dissect the sequences anatomically. How are they built up? How are they broken down? These are some of the questions that Carlsen works with.
For example, time is collapsed in Carlsen’s paintings – an animated motion is seen all at once, inasmuch as several angles of a given object are presented. The simple geometric form is turned three-‐dimen-‐ sionally, after which it is projected down on to the two dimensions of the painting, so that the actual point of departure – the geometric form – is dissolved.
In a light-‐sculpture the figurative element is removed such that time remains through the timing of some light bulbs that create an illusion of pure motion; a motion that evokes associations with a bouncing ball. Carlsen thus demonstrates the mental programming that makes us perceive things in a temporal framework. Although the light bulbs only light up in turn, we see motion: the bouncing ball as the archetype of an animation is a figure that recurs in several of the works in the show.
For the show Carlsen has also animated his own hand. Through the animation, the mechanics of the fingers and the mobility of the hand are explored in relation to the pleasure of turning and twisting everything. This creates a disengaged, virtual sensory experience – only the motion of touching is left, yet it can be difficult not to reflect that motion mentally.
In the animated chimpanzee, imperceptibly many small sub-‐elements are joined together to create life. The chimpanzee is computer-‐created – that is, coloured and animated triangles give the illusion of a physical object. For Carlsen it is the same elementary building-‐blocks – time and geometry – that are simply carried forward to a different logical conclusion.
