Balkongen, mörkrummet och marsvinet i Hannover = the balcony, the darkroom and the guinea pig in Hannover

About this book

This project deals with art and boundless artistry that expands and annexes its surroundings and about the relationship between the private and public. The project is also in itself an example of this boundless behaviour. The balcony, in the title, is a bridge between the individual, separate house and the shared public space. In the project the installation by the shop owner and amateur artist Chonglis (born 1957) is interpreted and recreated. The project began during Andreas Gedin's IASPIS residency in Beijing 2016 and continued during a stay there in 2017. Chongli has dressed his shop with photographs of himself in various public contexts mixed with his simple, traditional paintings. The pictures placed are outdoors and fade in the sun and rain among plants and live animals in the store in the heart of Beijing. In the book that is part of the exhibition, Chongli is joined by dadaist Kurt Schwitters (1887-1948) and his expansive installation Merzbau and the Polish-American author Jerzy Kosinski (1933-1991) whose writings spilled over into his life and vice versa. In the book, photographs are interspersed with a number of short coherent essays on these artists and on to subjects such as the history of the pulpit, postmodern architecture, guinea pigs and a porridge sculpture