PRESS RELEASE:
So all this really does exist!
Offering a glimpse into an artistic practice, a work-in-progress, at EKS-RUMMET from November 16th to 25th, Line Kallmayer unveils a new piece rooted in the fictive/performative text, "I AM ANNA." This text was composed during the pandemic in Athens in 2020-21 and delves into, among other subjects, a letter authored by Sigmund Freud in 1936. In this letter, Freud recounts his visit to the Acropolis in 1904 and his purported exclamation: "So all this really does exist!" as he surveyed the city below.
"I AM ANNA" provides a voice to the therapist Anna, who lives in Athens. We follow her work with a client who is struggling with the idea that something should happen. "We should go deeper," the client urges, but Anna remains mostly silent. In fact, she scarcely speaks, and it feels brutal for the client who comes and goes, finding herself rambling on while she sneaks past police patrols in Athens during lockdown. Anna is also visited by an enigmatic new client, Arabella, whose late husband appears to haunt the consultation room.
During your visit to EKS-RUMMET, you can listen to Anna's voice, captured and interpreted by actress Freya Miller. The room also showcases various items, along with a replica of Freud's original letter.
This work explores the performativity of language—how we appear and, potentially, disappear. Using the analytical room as both a stage and a screen, the piece reflects a dialectic space, investigating notions of the self and the gaze—a form of memory disturbance, if you will. It is about shaping the unseen, unexpressed connections between people, subjects and objects, and exploring our comprehension of ourselves in the world.
Line Kallmayer's artistic practice occupies a space between visual art and literature. It encircles and makes use of narrative structures that she explores over longer periods of research. Methodically, she employs techniques borrowed from anthropology, documentarism, and journalism. Her work strives to engage with and make sense of an ever-evolving context where images and our relationship with them lie—and where stories are written and told. She is intrigued by the limits of our imagination: the manner in which we conjure imagery, how we relate to it, and how this imagery communicates with us. Line Kallmayer is a trained visual artist from Goldsmiths, London, and is currently completing an MFA in Artistic Research at Malmø Art Academy.
Freya Miller is a Danish actress living in London. She is trained with East 15 Acting School. She works in TV, film and computer games, but also explores theatre and radio. She won a Voice Arts Award in 2021 (Guggenheim, NYC) and a Telly Award in 2022 and 2023.
Anna’s voice is recorded at SOUND MATTERS CPH.
The exhibition opens Thursday 16. Nov. 4-6pm
at EKS-RUMMET, Prags Boulevard 61, Cph. S.
Drinks will be served.
Other opening hours:
Friday 17. Nov. 2-5pm.
Saturday 18. Nov. 2-5pm
Thursday 23. Nov. 2-5pm
Saturday 25. Nov. 2-5pm
The exhibition is kindly supported by Grosserer L.F. Foghts Fond og Rådet for Visuel Kunst, Københavns Kommune.
