Caribic
Frans Jacobi
Stalke Galleri, Vesterbrogade 14 A
29.8. to 20.9.1997
Press Release
"CARIBIC"
by Frans Jacobi.
Frans Jacobi’s exhibition "CARIBIC" is a suite of photographs, drawings, video, and sound—a description of 21 tropical nights and diverse impressions along the way.
The exhibition consists of a series of smaller individual works, installed in the gallery as a cohesive, meandering passage through a dark and heated atmosphere.
The exhibition was produced "on the road" in Central America and the Caribbean in July 1997.
Frans Jacobi has recently installed the work "INVERTED SUMMER" (Room 25) at the exhibition HEMart97 in Norway and will once again be featured this October at the Louisiana exhibition with the work "THE HOUSE AT 4 AM" (Room 23). Furthermore, in November, he will showcase the work (Room 22) at the Berlin Fair, which Stalke Gallery is also pleased to present.
Reviews:
Scent of the Caribbean
Frans Jacobi's latest exhibition Caribic is, as the title suggests, inspired by a recent trip to the Caribbean. At the same time, it continues Jacobi's series of works about the journey—or rather, what can be called the places of the journey. It is not the movement itself that interests Jacobi, but rather the stillness and repetition, as seen expressed in the hotel room.
Travel Memories
The impersonality of the hotel room has formed the basis for a long series of Jacobi’s spatial installations, from the earlier densely filled rooms to the more sparse, minimal indications of space that Jacobi has presented in recent years. Using simple everyday objects and traces of popular songs, Jacobi manages to suggest the outlines of a possible identity, of a life that can be lived—though always confined to these spaces.
The latest addition to this series, Caribic, is no exception. Jacobi’s expression has become even more minimal and suggestive, though far less evocative. Caribic consists of a series of photographs in the first room, a sound installation in the second, and, finally, a series of colorful watercolors in the third. Common to all three parts is, naturally, how they hint at a Caribbean atmosphere—the colors, the sounds, the warmth, and so on.
It is also about how they hint at travel memories as a whole: How do we remember journeys in fragments, through souvenirs and snapshots? Thus, the category of "travel memories" is equally an area of investigation for Jacobi as the journey itself.
The different parts of the exhibition actually function as either souvenirs or snapshots. In the sound installation, the sound comes from a jar purchased in the Caribbean—it is not really a sculpture but rather functions structurally in relation to the category of travel memories. The object is not unique in itself, but only through the attributes we give it or through the stories we tell about it. And this is often how Jacobi’s works function: as revolving points for storytelling.
Master of Suggestion
This is most clearly expressed in the photo series—Jacobi’s snapshots—which consist of photographs of the same motif and same setup: the bed in a hotel room, taken every morning during the journey. Here, Jacobi truly shows himself as a master of suggestion: The bed is empty but clearly rumpled after a night’s sleep—or whatever may have happened (!)—we see no narrative, only traces.
One is then left to imagine who or what has been in the bed. The personal becomes something universal—or, as a friend of mine noted, what is striking about these images is how Jacobi manages to be private without being personal. And it is precisely Jacobi’s achievement that he points to subjectivity as something impersonal, as a construction with very specific punctuation. Punctuation marks like those we find in Caribic.
By Simon Sheikh
Hot Caribbean Nights
21 photographs of a bed. 21 tropical nights filled with dreams and visions that have left their mark on the crumpled sheets. Frans Jacobi visits Stalke Gallery in Copenhagen with a series of smaller individual works inspired by a stay in Central America and the Caribbean. Together with the documentary-styled hotel photographs, sound flows from the room’s walls, creating an inscrutable and haunting atmosphere.
Upon entering, one discovers the source of the sound—a kind of spirit jar on the wall bathed in bluish light. The room is filled with a manic spirit, whose alien and enigmatic happenings saturate the space with a mysterious and unsettling mood. One tries to interpret the sounds, just as the folds of the sheets attempt to capture the experiences of the 21 nights. But the conversation is in tongues, and the traces are empty.
The last room is a small painting exhibition, where a Nordic aesthetic is invaded by figures and symbols from exotic brushstrokes. A strangely unresolved yet compelling mode.
Hotel Rooms
Jacobi's attempt to engage the audience with his installations is characteristic of his working method. The melancholy and imprints of existence and the often fleeting experiences in his staged scenes and installations dominate the work. The absence resonates strongly with the viewer’s need to ascribe meaning and construct a narrative. The works, which he calls "rooms," are image-based and simultaneously about the aesthetic of absence and sensitivity.
The hotel room can be described as the temporary life of the suitcase for a moment in the exhibition setting. During this period, the audience’s experiences are projected into the work, only to become part of an idea that, after the exhibition, will be packed away and forgotten as an idea.
Jacobi conceives of the exhibition space as a neutral hotel room, which, just like the temporary hotel spaces, is filled with its guests' unique meanings during the stay (exhibition). After the exhibition, the space returns to its neutral state, ready to welcome new guests.
By Malene La Cour
